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By  F.  W.  BAIN 

Translated  from  the  Ori^nal  Manuscripts 

A  Digit  of  the  Moon 

And  Other  Love  Stories  from  the  Hindu 

A   Draught    of    the    Blue 

together  with 

An  Essence  of  the  Dusk 

An  Incarnation  of  the  Snow 

A  Mine  of  Faults 


4  I 


fe 


i^^^^^^c^jj^^^t^-  H^i4\(^^^(Ai^a\' 


A  Draught  of  the  Blue 


Together  with 


An   Essence   of   the   Dusk 


Translated  from  the  Original  Manuscripts 
By 

F.  W.  Bain 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and  London 
XLbe  f;nicfterboctt€c  pcese 


Copyright,  1906 

BY 

F.  W.  BAIN 
(For  "An  Essence  of  the  Dusk") 

Published,  January,  1907 
Reprinted,  March,  1907  ;  September,  1908 
July,  1910 


TTbe  ftniclierbocftev  ptees,  "new  Uotli 


Contents 


PAOB 

I    A  Draught  of  the  Blub        .        .         .         i 

jj    II    An  Essence  op  the  Dusk        .        .        .121 
tij 

Id 

ca 
6 

■3 


iii 


aiiMG 


A  Draught  of  the  Blue 

Translated  from  the  Original  Manuscript 

lMii«<<ii4ii<!ii<:  «A  ft  igi^oi^ 

Ahl  lotus  infinite!  ah!  wild  sweet  Blue! 
Sense,  in  thy  azure  ocean  dipped,  must  die. 


Desiderio 


Introduction 

The  sun  goes  down,  for  those  alone,  who 
stand  on  a  revolving  sphere:  and  so,  in  Na- 
ture's universal  life,  Death  is  but  a  dissolving 
view,  a  word  without  a  meaning;  real  only  to 
the  accidental  unit,  to  whose  local  and  momen- 
tary combination  it  sets  a  term.  Death  is  a 
thing  of  nought,  phenomenal,  kaleidoscopic: 
a  juggle  of  the  Mother  of  Illusion,  Prakriti  or 
Maya,  whose  magic  scene  not  only  never  dies, 
but  like  her  own  wild  animals,  sleeps  even 
with  an  open  eye.  You  never  catch  her  nap- 
ping. And  often,  when  you  think  that  you 
have  done  it,  she  vdnks  at  you,  just  as  it  were 
to  show  you  your  mistake.  As  sometimes,  on 
a  hot  midsummer  day,  when  the  delicate  blue 
smoke  from  cottage  chimneys  rises  straight 
into  the  air,  and  Nature  holds  her  breath :  you 
think,  she  is  asleep:  and  all  at  once,  there 
comes  a  little  whisper,  and  a  ripple  passes 
over  all  the  golden  ears  of  corn,  and  in  another 

5 


6  Introduction 

moment,  all  is  still.  Or  on  a  cliff  that  over- 
hangs a  glassy  sea,  you  lie  and  dream,  and 
think,  the  very  water  sleeps:  and  then,  a  sud- 
den change  of  colour  flushes  the  ocean  opal 
for  only  a  single  instant,  and  is  gone.  Or  in 
a  wood  at  noon,  you  listen  to  the  silence,  and 
a  rustle  suddenly  quivers  in  the  trees,  and  dies 
away.  Murmurs  and  echoes:  moments  and 
emotions  of  the  pulses  of  the  world :  hints  and 
indications,  still,  small  voices  more  significant 
than  storms,  of  the  never-sleeping  thrill  and 
throb  of  universal  action. 

'^  Every  tremor  gravitation  excites  in  any 
planet  is  immediately  transmitted  to  the  far- 
thest limits  of  the  system^  in  oscillations  corre- 
sponding in  their  periods  with  the  causes  that 
produce  them^  like  sympathetic  notes  in  music, 
or  vibrations  from  the  deep  tones  of  an  or- 
gan. .  .  .  The  human  frame  may  be 
regarded  as  an  elastic  system,  the  different 
parts  of  which  are  capable  of  receiving  the 
tremors  of  elastic  media,  and  of  vibrating  in 
unison  with  their  innumerable  undulations." 

So  far  sober  modern  science,  never  dreaming 


Introduction  7 

that  it  is  exactly  reproducing  (translate 
the  thing  only  from  physics  into  ethics)  the 
old  Hindoo  idea,  that  moral  conservation  of 
energy,  whose  fundamental  axiom  it  is,  that 
no  ACTION,  good  or  bad,  however  small,  is 
or  ever  can  be  lost,  but  like  a  stone  thrown 
into  the  water,  generates  innumerable  con- 
sequences, running  in  all  directions  to  infinity, 
producing  permanent  impressions  and  effects, 
that  follow  and  fatally  determine,  eternal  and 
indelible,  the  fortunes  of  their  doer,  through 
the  series  of  interminable  births  and  deaths: 
births  that  are  no  beginning,  and  deaths  that 
are  not  an  end.  Thus  do  we  go  on  making  for 
ourselves  our  weal  or  woe:  and  as  we  go,  the 
hounds  of  deeds  long  buried  in  oblivion  are  on 
our  track. 

Doubtless  a  little  story  might  have  a  more 
delicious  name  than  the  one  before  us:  but 
doubtless  it  never  had.  We  may  understand 
it  either  of  a  young  woman  or  the  moon:  and 
in  either  case,  it  means  more  things  than  one. 
I.     The  new  moon,  seen  for  a  single  instant , 


8  Introduction 

in  the  shy^  or  on  iha  lotus,  or  on  the  forehead 
of  Maheshwara.  II.  A  beauty  with  eyes  like 
a  great  blue  lotus,  or  the  colour  of  heaven. 
For  all  these  things  have  a  quaUty  in  common, 
the  mystic  blue. 

Strange,  how  deep  an  impression  the  colour 
blue  seems  to  have  made  upon  the  Indian 
mind.  Gods  and  peacocks,  creepers  and 
lotuses,  clouds  and  pools  and  skies  and  seas, 
elephants  and  maidens*  glances  are  all  mixed 
up  together  in  their  language  by  their  "  par- 
ticipation "  in  this  "  Platonic  idea,"  this  tran- 
scendental blue.  Something  of  this,  indeed, 
is  readily  intelligible  in  every  land:  but  in  In- 
dia, it  is  more  so.  The  blue  is  bluer,  there. 
Wouldst  the  poet  understand.  Travel  in  the 
poet's  land.  I  will  not  say,  with  Goethe, 
Kenst  thou  that  land:  but  simply  tell  the 
reader  something  that  I  saw  at  Mahabalesh- 
war  in  1903. 


The  month  of  May,  and  with  it,  the  hot 
weather,  was  drawing  to  a  close.  The  woods 
were  green,  but  very,  very  dry,  and  all  their 


Introduction  9 

ferny  fringes  by  the  red  road-sides  were  parched 
and  powdered  thick  with  ruddy  dust.  Each 
morning,  when  I  stood  in  my  verandah,  looking 
down  the  valley,  I  could  see  a  floor  of  cloud, 
now  rolled  out  like  a  table-cloth,  now  tossing 
like  a  troubled  sea,  now  floating,  wreath  on 
wreath,  like  a  baUet  dancer's  gauzy  flounces, 
half  opaque  and  half  transparent,  over  the  dis- 
tant Konkan,  three  thousand  feet  and  more 
below,  waiting  for  the  rising  sun  to  touch  it 
with  a  rosy  blush  and  kiss  it,  into  invisibility. 
And  every  evening,  just  as  he  went  away,  the 
hot  haze  hanging  like  a  filmy  veil  about  the 
hills  thickened  back  into  solidity,  and  beauti- 
ful cold  mists,  reborn,  rolled  swiftly  up  the 
valley,  blotting  out  the  picture,  and  hiding  all 
with  their  ghostly  shifting  curtain.  And  so, 
from  morn  to  night,  and  night  to  morning,  it 
went  on,  till  lines  of  bullock  carts  began  to 
gather  and  wander  down  the  hill,  and  people 
were  preparing  to  pack  and  flit  and  vanish: 
for  the  monsoon  was  approaching,  when  no 
one  not  a  native  of  those  parts  can  remain 
upon  the  hill,  unless  he  wishes  to  go  mad. 


lo  Introduction 

And  then  it  began  to  rain.  Suddenly,  like 
the  Day  of  Judgment,  there  fell  from  the  sky 
in  a  solid  lump  rain,  like  no  rain  that  I  had 
ever  seen  before,  with  the  roar  of  an  avalanche 
and  the  thunder  of  Indra  and  lightning  that 
hissed  like  a  serpent,  crashing  and  smashing 
down  on  the  roof  as  if  it  would  break  it  in. 
It  was  dark  at  midday,  and  deadly  cold,  for 
there  went  up  a  mist  from  the  earth,  to  meet 
the  flood  from  heaven,  making  as  it  were  a 
solid  wall  through  which  it  w^as  impossible  to 
see  a  yard.  There  was  nothing  to  be  done  but 
to  sit  and  wait.  So  for  five  nights  and  days 
that  angry  rain  raged  and  hammered  upon 
the  earth,  and  tore  her  with  savage  fury,  grow- 
ing fiercer  as  it  went  on^:  till  all  at  once,  just 
as  though  the  gates  above  had  been  suddenly 
shut,  it  stopped,  as  abruptly  as  it  had  begun, 
about  five  in  the  afternoon. 

I  went  out,  and  wandered  slowly  up  the 
hill.     The  air  was  soft,  and  quite  warm,  and 

» In  but  a  part  of  the  last  night,  there  fell  eight  inches  and 
a  half  of  rain  1  Time  for  time,  Mahabaleshvvar  can  probably 
laugh  at  Cherrapunji.  The  valleys  are  scooped  out  as  if  with 
a  trowel. 


Introduction  ii 

heavy  with  the  smell  of  smells,  the  fragrance 
of  fresh  earth.  Here  and  there,  the  paths 
were  gone,  washed  clean  away,  looking  like 
red  skeletons  of  their  former  selves,  with  rock 
for  bones,  all  their  earthy  covering  gone. 
And  here  and  there,  a  little  off  the  road,  a  pale 
orchid  sheltered  beneath  a  bough,  or  a  dainty 
cobra-lily,  nestling  snug  under  an  overhang- 
ing trunk,  peeped  with  incomparable  shy  re- 
serve through  some  dark  vista  in  the  trees. 
A  mongoose  ran  across  the  road,  stopped,  just 
half-way,  to  stare  for  an  instant  at  me  with 
its  startled  weasel  eye,  and  leaped  into  cover 
on  the  opposite  side.^  In  a  few  minutes  I 
gained  a  point  of  view,  and  turned  to  look, — 
over  a  sea  of  green,  and  what  a  green  I 

For  every  leaf  on  every  tree  was  washed 
and  wet,  and  glistened  as  if  coated  with  fresh 
paint.  The  rich  glow  of  a  yellow  evening 
sun  deepened  and  intensified  the  wonderful 
red  colour  of  patches  of  naked  rock,  raw  scars 
laid  bare  by  httle  slips  of  land  on  places  on  the 

'  This  mongoose  was,  no  doubt,  wondering  "what  the  devil 
I  did  there  " :  for  during  the  rains  he  and  his  fellows  have  the 
hillsides  entirely  to  themselves. 


12^  Introduction 

hill.  Cascades  of  water  shot  spouting  and 
splashing  into  the  valleys  from  innumerable 
scarps  and  shelves  along  the  heights;  and  as 
I  listened,  I  could  hear  the  streams,  hidden  in 
the  dense  foliage,  rushing  and  gurghng  down 
the  steep  slopes,  carrying  with  them  as  they 
went  all  the  loose  soil  and  pebbles  they  could 
find.  And  all  along  the  ridges  of  the  hills,  to 
right  and  left,  on  Elphinstone  and  Lodwick 
points,  hung  brooding  enormous  masses  of 
white  cloud,  the  purest,  the  strangest,  the  most 
indescribably  magnificent  and  beautiful  clouds 
that  I  ever  saw,  whiter  than  snow,  brighter 
than  polished  silver,  save  only  where  their 
lower  edges  were  charged  with  heavy  rain, 
fleeces  of  colossal  milk-white  rams,  dipped  by 
the  master  painter,  Deity,  in  giant  vats  of 
purple  ink.  Down  and  away  below  them  the 
staircase  of  the  Ghauts,  long  lines  of  broken 
hill,  were  stepping  away  into  the  plain,  with 
every  distant  detail  sharp  and  clear,  cut  as  it 
were  in  copper,  till  all  merged  in  the  far  ho- 
rizon, on  which  a  blink  of  burnished  gold 
flashed  back  from  the  unseen  sea,  lying  right 


Introduction  13 

in  the  eye  of  the  setting  sun.  I  listened,  and 
in  the  silence,  broken  only  by  the  ruckle,  of 
the  rushing  water,  somewhere  away  upon  the 
hill,  I  heard  a  cock  crow.  And  at  that  mo- 
ment, right  above  me,  I  looked  and  saw:  a 
mass  of  shining  cloud  swung  slowly  open,  and 
through  the  gap,  in  the  deep  abyss  of  heaven, 
appeared  a  spot,  a  panel,  a  little  lozenge,  of 
blue:  pure,  unsullied,  silent,  elemental,  Indian 
blue. 

There,  there,  was  the  unearthly  colour,  the 
colour  of  the  mystic  lotus,  and  the  long-eyed 
languishing  Indian  Gods.  I  knew  in  that  in- 
stant what  Kalidas  meant,  when  he  compared 
the  virtue  of  the  just  to  a  patch  of  heaven 
fallen  down  to  earth,  the  blue  celestial  leaven 
in  this  world  of  frenzied  storm  and  weeping 
rain.  There  was  the  azure  paradox,  the  blue 
that  is  all  but  black,  dark,  transparent,  clear 
as  crystal,  shut  out  from  eyes  that  live  in 
plains  by  earth's  encircling  fog.  But  over 
every  mountain  is  peace.j  and  the  kosmic  blue. 

Mahabaleshwab, 
Ajpril,  1905. 


Contents 


Prologue — A  Dead  Lotus 

Love's  Looking-Glass 
I.  Sky-Crystal 
II.  Sprung  from  the  Mud 

III.  Purusha  and  Prakriti 

IV.  Bubbles      . 
V.  A  Painted  Lady 

VI.  Shadows     . 
VII.  Twilight     . 
VIII.  Quintessence 
IX.  Echoes  and  Regrets 


Epilogue — The  Break  of  a  Heart 


PAGE 

17 

45 
47 
52 

63 
70 
78 

85 
92 

lOI 

no 
"3 


Note. — The  words  below  the  Vignette  may  be  thus  trans- 
lated : 

Earth,  the  Root,  and  Heaven,  the  Hue  ; 
Marsh  of  Mire,  and  Flower  of  Blue ; 


15 


Prologue 
A  Dead  Lotus 


17 


A  Dead  Lotus 


To  the  pitchy  dark  of  that  awful  wood,^ 
where  plunging  Ganges  lost  her  way  through 
a  night  of  a  thousand  years:  when  the  lonely 
Moon  turned  ashy  pale,  mocked  by  a  million 
moons  that  danced  in  the  hollows  of  the  rush- 
ing waves:  we  how. 

On  the  edge  of  the  great  southern  forest, 
there  lived,  a  thousand  years  ago,  an  aged 
King  and  Queen,  who  counted  all  the  world  as 
grass,  for  want  of  a  son  and  heir.  And  find- 
ing all  other  methods  fruitless,  in  the  end  they 
gave  themselves  wholly  up  to  meditating, 
night  and  day,  on  the  sole  of  the  Great  God's 
foot:  until  at  last  Maheshwara  felt  pity  for 
that  childless  couple,  and  revealed  himself  to 
them  both  at  once,  in  a  double  dream.  So 
when  he  asked  them  what  they  wanted,  the 

>  The  hair  of  Shiwa,  wlio  caught  the  Ganges  as  it  fell  from 
heaven  upon  his  head.  It  took  the  river  a  thousand  years  to 
find  its  way  out. 

IJ9 


20  Prologue 

King  asked  simply  for  a  son.  But  the  Queen, 
being  smitten  with  deep  devotion  at  the  sight 
of  the  Great  God's  moonlit  hair,  exclaimed: 

0  Boon  Giver,  let  my  son  resemble  thee,  were 
it  only  in  a  single  fraction  of  an  atom  of  his 
being.  Touch  me  now  with  the  very  end  of 
one  of  thy  tangled  locks  of  hair,  and  so  shall 

1  become  instinct  with  a  tiny  portion  of  thy 
divinity.  Then  said  Shiwa  to  himself:  Even 
a  single  jot  of  me  will  be  much  too  powerful 
for  the  rest  of  this  human  being's  substance, 
and  disturb  the  balance  of  the  whole.  But  be 
it  as  this  mother  wills.  For  she  has  made  her 
choice,  and  I  granted  the  boon  beforehand.^ 
And  I  can  see  that  he  has  to  dree  the  weird  ^ 
of  his  former  births. 

Then  he  took  from  his  head  a  single  hair,  and 
broke  it  off,  and  placed  it  in  her  hand.  And 
then  he  disappeared,  and  that  royal  pair 
awoke,  and  eagerly  compared  their  dreams, 
which  corresponded  in  every  particular.     And 

«  0£o5  dvatrio?,  airta  5'  iXofiivov, 

a  I  must  ask  the  reader  to  excuse  me  for  using  a  Scottish  ex- 
pression, for  there  is  no  English  equivalent.  It  means  to  work 
out  the  fate  that  is  laid  upon  him  by  what  has  been  done  in  a 
previous  existence. 


A  Dead  Lotus  21 

when  they  looked,  lo!  shut  fast  In  the  hand  of 
the  Queen  was  a  single  hair,  that  glowed  hke 
a  wire  of  flame.^ 

Then  full  of  joy,  they  worshipped  the  God: 
and  they  placed  that  hair  in  a  golden  shrine, 
and  built  around  it  a  temple.  And  when  in 
course  of  time  the  Queen  gave  birth  to  a  son, 
they  called  him  by  a  suitable  name,  Rudra- 
laka.^  And  as  the  baby  became  a  child,  he 
did  not  belie  his  name.  For  his  thick  dark 
hair  was  shot  with  a  tinge  of  gleaming  red, 
and  in  the  sun  it  shone  like  fire,  and  it  re- 
sembled the  mane  of  a  horse.  And  as  the  boy 
became  a  man,  his  strength  became  prodi- 
gious; and  his  passions  were  wild  and  furious 
and  proportioned  to  his  strength.  And  he 
was  as  unruly  and  unmanageable  as  a  young 
colt  of  high  spirit,  and  so  full  of  wayward  ob- 
stinacy and  headstrong  self-will,  that  his 
father  said  in  private  to  his  mother:  Now,  but 
that  the  hair  in  thy  hand  was  red,  this  son  of 

»  The  English  reader  should  know,  not  only  that  the  Great 
Good's  hair  is  red  or  tawny,  but  that  he  has  in  his  nature  a 
strain  of  wildness,  something  on  the  border-land  of  insanity. 

»  The  hair,  or  the  abode,  of  Shiwa. 


22  Prologue 

thine  would  seem  to  take  after,  not  the  Great 
God  himself,  but  his  bull.^ 

And  when  his  manhood  was  complete,  like  a 
river  in  flood  in  the  rainy  season,  it  overflowed 
all  common  bounds.  And  he  ran  wild  among 
men  and  women,  overcoming  all  the  men  in 
every  feat  of  strength  and  agiHty,  and  like 
a  great  black  bee  in  a  flower  garden,  rifling  all 
the  women  of  their  honey  and  their  hearts  and 
their  good  behaviour,  and  playing  havoc 
among  them,  till  the  mischief  created  by  his 
own  red  hair  began,  as  it  were,  to  turn  that  of 
his  father  and  mother  white.  Then  they  said: 
Come,  we  will  marry  him,  and  then  no  doubt 
he  will  settle  down  and  become  clear,  like 
strong  wine  after  fermentation,  and  turn  into 
a  pillar  of  his  family  and  the  state.  But  as 
soon  as  they  proposed  it,  Rudralaka  laughed 
in  their  faces.  And  he  exclaimed:  Who  car- 
ries a  flower,  when  it  is  faded,  and  what  are 
women  but  flowers,  fit  only  to  be  gathered, 
in  the  moment  of  their  bloom,  and  worn  for 
an  hour  and  thrown  away?     And  he  is  wise, 

»  Nandi,  whose  hair  is  white. 


A  Dead  Lotus  23 

who  knows  how  to  get  from  the  bee  its  honey, 
and  yet  elude  its  sting.  Now  a  maiden  is 
all  honey,  but  a  wife  is  a  buzzing  sting.  More- 
over, women  are  like  mountains,  and  like 
snakes,  and  fire,  and  the  mirage,  beautiful  in 
the  distance,  and  the  further  off,  the  better: 
and  like  them,  rugged,  and  biting,  and  burn- 
ing, and  luring  to  destruction  all  who  come 
too  near.  But  of  all  things  this  is  worst,  that 
every  woman  wishes,  like  a  king,  to  reign 
alone,  and  is  utterly  unable  to  endure  the  very 
name  of  rival,  even  in  her  dreams :  so  that  every 
husband  has  in  his  wife,  either  a  despotic  ty- 
rant, or  an  exasperated  foe,  whom  nothing  can 
appease  or  soothe  but  absolute  submission. 
And  thus  his  life  is  sapped  and  sucked  and 
drawn  into  the  being  of  his  wife,  till  it  wholly 
disappears,  like  that  of  a  noble  tree,  embraced 
and  treacherously  kissed  into  a  premature  de- 
cay by  a  beautiful  and  clinging  creeper.  And 
no  matter  how  glorious  the  flower,  I  will  not 
be  the  tree:  nor  would  I  buy  a  wife,  were  she 
ten  thousand  times  more  beautiful  than 
Radha,  by  the  slavery  even  of  a  single  day. 


24  Prologue 

And  what  is  the  need  to  pay  so  dear  for  things 
that  are  always  ready  to  give  themselves  away 
for  nothing,  and  would  rather  give  themselves 
away  than  be  bought  at  any  price?  For  wo- 
men are  always  longing  to  give  themselves 
away,  and  care  only  for  men  that  they  do  not 
know:  being  forgetful  of  all  kindness,  and  un- 
bound by  obligation,  and  seeing  in  their  hus- 
band nothing  but  his  faults;  while  every 
passing  stranger  has  their  heart,  as  soon  as 
he  appears,  just  as  long  as  he  is  strange.  For 
Love  is  himself  a  stranger,  and  cannot  be- 
come famihar  without  ceasing  to  be  Love: 
and  women  live  for  Love  alone,  being,  like 
flowers,  nothing  but  his  instruments:  and  he 
is  like  the  amber,  and  they  are  like  the  grass. 

So  when  they  found  that,  in  spite  of  all 
that  they  could  say,  he  would  not  be  per- 
suaded, but  that  the  more  they  tried,  the 
harder  grew  his  obstinacy,  his  parents  gave  it 
up.  And  soon  afterwards,  their  hearts  broke 
with  grief,  and  they  died,  leaving  him  unmar- 
ried, and  fearing  for  him,  and  the  kingdom, 
and  their  ancestors,  and  themselves,  lest  all 


A  Dead  Lotus  25 

should  go  to  ruin  by  reason  of  the  incorrigible 
perversity  of  this  cutter  of  their  race's  stalk.^ 
And  then,  just  as  though  he  had  only 
waited  for  their  death,  no  sooner  had  his  two 
parents  gone  away  on  the  great  road,  than 
this  marriage-hating  son  of  theirs  went  hunt- 
ing in  the  forest.  And  he  rode  a  horse  of 
spirit  Uke  his  own,  which  after  a  while  broke 
from  control  and  fled  at  full  speed,  carrying 
him  in  an  instant  out  of  sight  of  all  his  at- 
tendants. And  it  brought  him,  deep  in  the 
heart  of  the  wood,  to  his  destiny,  in  the  form 
of  a  woman,  the  daughter  of  an  old  ascetic, 
whose  beauty,  like  a  deadly  snake,  bit  and 
slew,  in  a  single  moment,  his  antipathy  to  the 
state  of  marriage,  by  the  poison  of  its  childUke 
charm.  And  utterly  beside  himself,  he  wooed 
her  then  and  there,  and  brought  her  home 
on  his  own  horse,  and  made  her  his  wife  and 
Queen.  And  she  changed  him  so  completely, 
that  he  to  whom  a  wife  was  slavery,  became  a 
woman's  willing  slave:  so  much  so,  that  he 

'  Because,  as  Lucian  said,  without  an  heir  to  perform  the  due 
ceremonies,  the  unfortunate  shades  would  have  to  go  hungry 
and  thirsty. 


26  Prologue 

could  not  bear  to  let  her  out  of  his  sight  even 
for  a  single  instant.  And  he  became,  like  an 
image  of  ArddhanariV  inseparable  from  his 
wife,  holding  her  in  his  arms  night  and  day, 
and  chafing,  like  a  wild  animal  kept  without 
food  in  a  cage,  if  she  left  him  only  to  drink 
water.  And  the  God  of  the  flowery  bow 
laughed,  to  see  his  infatuation;  and  he  said 
softly  to  himself:  A  converted  scoffer  is,  after 
all,  the  best  adorer :  for  even  a  very  clever  swan 
would  fail  to  separate  this  milk-and-water.^ 
But  the  King's  subjects  were  overjoyed;  and 
they  said:  Now,  then,  his  parents  will  be 
happy.  And  if  his  passion  is  so  violent,  that 
at  present  he  utterly  neglects  his  kingly  du- 
ties, no  matter.  For  when  it  has  become  cool, 
he  will  be  the  very  crest- jewel  of  his  race. 

And  then,  while  he  was  entirely  bewitched 
and  enthralled  by  his  passion  for  his  new 
young  moon  of  a  bride,  some  neighbouring 
kings,  his  hereditary  enemies,  hearing  of  his 

>  Sliiwa  and  Parwati  combined. 

»  Kshira  nira,  viilk-and-water,  is  a  technical  term  in  Hindoo 
ei-otics  for  a  very  close  embrace.  The  swan  is  credited  by  Hin- 
doo poets  with  the  power  of  separating  the  two  :  a  curious  idea, 
of  which  it  is  not  easy  to  see  the  origin. 


A  Dead  Lotus  27 

condition,  and  seizing  their  opportunity,  com- 
bined together,  and  attacked  him.  And  after 
a  while,  his  subjects  on  the  frontier,  being 
ruined,  paid  no  taxes.  So  driven  by  necessity, 
he  said  to  his  wife,  with  a  sigh:  There  is  no 
help  for  it,  and  now  I  must  absolutely  leave 
thee  for  a  Httle  while,  to  pull  these  thorns  up 
by  the  roots:  for  if  not,  the  kingdom  will  be 
destroyed.  Yet  only  for  a  very  little  while: 
for  I  will  return  almost  before  I  have  started. 
And  collecting  his  army,  he  put  himself  at  its 
head,  and  threw  himself  upon  those  kings, 
and  scattered  them  like  leaves  in  a  storm  of 
wind,  and  reduced  them  to  beg  for  mercy:  for 
he  was  beside  himself  with  rage,  seeing  in 
them  not  so  much  enemies  of  his  kingdom  as 
causes  of  his  unwilling  separation  from  his 
wife.  And  having  speedily  gained  his  object, 
he  sent  relays  of  horses,  and  posted  them  at 
intervals  all  the  way  from  his  camp  to  his  capi- 
tal. And  then  at  last,  one  morning,  he 
mounted  a  horse,  and  started  with  but  one  at- 
tendant, and  a  heart  on  fire,  to  return  to  his 
wife. 


28  Prologue 

So  they  rode,  all  day  long,  at  full  speed: 
stopping  only  as  long  as  was  necessary  to  let 
them  leap  from  one  horse  to  another,  as  if 
wishing  to  rival  the  sun  in  his  course;  till  that 
unhappy  companion  of  the  King  was  almost 
dead  from  fatigue,  for  he  was  not  supported 
like  his  master  by  the  burning  desire  to  arrive. 
But  the  King  rode  on  as  it  were  in  a  dream, 
seeing  nothing  before  him  but  the  edge  of  the 
far  horizon,  and  the  image  of  his  wife  beyond. 
And  so  the  day  went  by,  and  as  the  sun  was 
going  down,  they  drew  near  to  the  capital,  and 
saw  its  walls  before  them,  away  on  the  distant 
plain.  And  the  King  uttered  a  shout,  and 
he  drove  his  spurs  deep  into  the  flanks  of  his 
flying  horse,  and  left  his  follower  far  behind. 
And  he  rode  into  the  city  like  a  whirlwind,  and 
dashed  through  its  streets,  scattering  the  peo- 
ple, and  spurning  them  as  it  were  from  his 
horse's  hoofs.  And  he  reached  his  palace,  and 
rode  through  the  gates  into  the  court,  and 
threw  himself  to  the  ground.  And  he  stood 
on  the  palace  steps,  and  called  aloud  with  a 
joyous  voice:  Ho!  go  quickly,  and  tell  the 


A  Dead  Lotus  29 

Queen  that  the  King  has  come,  and  waits  only 
for  her  permission,  to  kneel  at  her  lotus-feet. 

Then  the  guards,  who  stood  around,  gazed 
at  the  King  and  at  each  other,  in  silence  and 
dismay.  And  as  they  waited,  there  came  to 
the  King  an  old  chamberlain,  who  stood  before 
him  with  joined  hands,  and  stooping;  and  his 
face  was  grey  with  fear.  And  he  said,  with 
a  shaking  voice:  Let  the  King  show  mercy. 
Has  he  not  met  the  couriers?  The  Queen  died 
of  a  burning  fever,  only  three  days  ago. 

And  the  King  fell  to  the  earth,  as  though 
one  had  struck  him  on  the  head  with  an  iron 
club. 


II 

And  they  took  him  up,  and  carried  him  in, 
and  laid  him  on  a  bed.  And  there  he  re- 
mained, hke  a  dead  man,  and  for  so  long,  that 
they  begun  to  doubt  whether  he  were  not  dead 
indeed.  But  at  last,  the  physicians  by  their 
remedies  brought  him  back  to  the  body.  But 
his  reason  had  fled.  For  he  raved  and  fought, 
struggling  with  the  strength  of  a  giant,  and 
biting  like  a  wild  beast,  tearing  his  own  hair, 
and  shouting  for  his  wife.  And  he  threw  him- 
self upon  his  attendants,  and  handled  them  so 
that  they  feared  for  their  lives:  and  he  ran 
through  the  palace  hunting  for  his  wife,  and 
calling  her  by  name.  And  when  he  could 
not  find  her,  he  fell  on  all  whom  he  met, 
and  beat  them,  and  came  so  near  to 
killing  many,  that  at  last  his  ministers 
took  counsel,  and  caused  him  to  be  bound. 
So  after  raging  for  many  days,  taking 
neither  food  nor  drink,  he  fell  into  a  burning 
fever,  as  if  he  wished  to  follow  his  wife  by 

30 


A  Dead  Lotus  31 

the  very  road  she  went  herself;  and  he  lay  for 
many  weeks  on  the  very  threshold  of  the  door 
of  death.  But  his  strength  was  such  that  he 
could  not  die.  And  so,  after  a  long  while,  he 
came  back,  very  slowly,  and  as  it  were  against 
his  will,  to  life  and  to  himself:  and  little  by 
little  recovered  health,  and  took  once  more  to 
his  kingly  duties,  and  the  bearing  of  the  bur- 
den of  the  state.  But  it  was,  as  if  his  better 
part  had  died,  refusing  to  be  parted  from  his 
wife,  in  the  other  world,  and  leaving  behind 
in  this  only  so  much  of  his  soul  as  was  neces- 
sary to  enable  him  to  live  at  all.  For  he 
never  moved  from  his  palace,  roaming  about 
its  rooms,  always  silent,  and  always  alone,  with 
his  head  sunk  down  upon  his  breast,  and  his 
sad  eyes  fixed  upon  the  ground:  and  over  his 
dark  face  there  never  passed  the  whiteness  of  a 
smile :  for  his  dead  wife's  shadow  lay  across  it, 
and  her  figure  moved  before  him  night  and 
day;  and  her  sweetness,  not  to  be  forgotten, 
and  never  to  return,  rankled  in  his  heart  like 
a  thorn,  and  goaded  it,  and  gnawed  it,  and 
festered  in  his  soul:  and  sleep  forsook  his  eyes. 


32  Prologue 

which  were  wild,  and  haggard,  and  such  that 
all  who  saw  them  feared  him,  and  were  wary 
in  his  presence:  for  every  now  and  then  he 
broke  out  into  paroxysms  of  grief  mixed  with 
laughter,  during  which  he  seemed,  as  it  were, 
not  to  know  what  he  was  doing,  and  was  as 
dangerous  to  approach  as  a  wild  mother  ele- 
phant robbed  by  hunters  of  her  calf.  And  so 
he  Hved,  and  months  went  by,  and  the  grey 
hairs  came  before  their  time  and  settled  in  his 
head,  and  sowed  as  it  were  its  fire  with  the 
ashes  of  grey  grief:  and  age  saw  her  oppor- 
tunity, and  began  unheeded  and  unhindered 
to  furrow  wrinkles  in  his  brow,  and  dig  deep 
corners  at  the  ends  of  his  stern  shut  lips. 


Ill 


Now  it  happened,  on  a  day,  when  the  Great 
God  was  roaming  through  the  sky  with  Uma 
in  his  arms,  that  they  passed  close  by  the  moon. 
And  suddenly,  they  heard  in  the  stillness  a 
mournful  voice,  like  the  note  of  a  chakrawdki 
bewailing  her  lost  mate,  exclaiming  at  inter- 
vals: Alas!  alas!  So  they  stopped  and 
alighted  on  the  surface  of  the  cold-rayed  orb, 
and  wandered  about  in  his  camphored  air, 
guided  by  the  sound,  till  they  came  all  at  once 
upon  a  Siddha/  And  she  was  sitting  under 
a  sandal  tree,  leaning  her  head  against  the 
trunk,  with  large  tears  in  her  great  blue  eyes, 
and  a  cloud  of  dark  dishevelled  hair  floating 
about  her  bare  white  bosom,  whose  two  colos- 
sal pearls  rose  and  fell,  heaving  and  fretting 
as  if  regretting  their  absent  ocean  home.  Then 
filled   with   compassion   and   curiosity,   Uma 

'  The  moon,  according  to  some  philosophers,  is  the  home  of 
those  pure  spirits,  who  have  purged  themselves  in  former  births 
sxifficiently  to  deserve  a  certain  grade  of  beatitude  or  bliss. 

3  33 


34  Prologue 

exclaimed:  What  can  be  the  meaning  of  this 
sighing  Siddha?  And  Maheshwara  divined 
the  truth.  But  he  said :  Ask  her.  Thereupon 
Parwati  said:  O  thou  lotus  lady,  what  is  thy 
trouble?  And  the  Siddha  said:  O  Daughter 
of  the  Mountain,  I  have  attained,  by  super- 
fluity of  merit,  to  this  position  of  a  Siddha, 
which  notwithstanding  is  only  a  grief  and  no 
pleasure  to  me.  For  I  remember  my  former 
birth,  and  I  can  see  my  husband,  sorrowing 
for  my  absence  away  below.  And  now  I 
would  give  all  that  remains  of  my  unexhausted 
stock  of  accumulated  merit  for  a  single  mo- 
ment of  the  time  that  is  past,  did  it  last  no 
longer  than  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  For 
what  is  the  use  of  my  Siddhahood,  or  anything 
else,  without  my  lord?  Or  why  am  I  cursed 
with  reminiscence,  and  not  rather  rewarded 
with  oblivion?  For  memory  binds  my  soul, 
and  Hnks  it  like  a  red  hot  chain  to  the  burning 
fire  of  a  dead  delight. 

Then  Parwati  said  in  private  to  the  God: 
Canst  thou  not  do  something  for  this  lovely 
Siddha?     And  Maheshwara  replied:   This  is 


A  Dead  Lotus  35 

the  nature  of  women,  that  for  the  sake  of  their 
single  lover,  they  would  annihilate  the  three 
worlds.  But  what  has  pity  to  do  with  the 
constitution  of  the  universe?  Or  how  can 
time  return  again,  and  all  be  thrown  into  con- 
fusion, simply  to  allow  two  foolish  lovers  to 
meet  once  more?  So  there  is  nothing  what- 
ever to  be  done.  But  Parwati  coaxed  him 
and  cajoled  him,  knowing  the  power  of  her  two 
white  arms,  until  at  last  he  said:  Since  I  can 
refuse  thee  nothing,  and  thou  art  absolutely 
set  upon  it,  I  will,  to  please  thee,  cause  these 
two  unhappy  persons  to  re-enact  their  little 
drama,  and  taste  again  the  nectar  of  that  love 
which  they  so  much  regret:  but  only  in  a 
dream.  For  dreams  were  established  by  the 
Creator  for  this  very  reason,  that  a  remedy 
might  be  found  for  the  irrevocable  nature  of 
reality.  For  that  must  be  as  it  has  been,  and 
cannot  be  recalled  or  changed:  but  anything 
may  happen  in  a  dream.  And  yet,  this  pair 
of  lovers  would  be  wiser,  were  they  content  to 
let  alone,  and  leave  things  as  they  are.  For 
they  will  but  make  their  misery  more,  by  the 


36  Prologue 

very  means  they  wish  to  take  to  lessen  and  re- 
move it.     But  be  that  as  it  may. 

And  then,  he  cast  upon  the  Siddha  a  kindly 
glance.  And  he  said :  Silly  child,  that  wouldst 
be  wiser  than  those  who  framed  the  three 
great  worlds,  be  now  consoled.  Thou  shalt, 
at  least,  have  thy  way,  for  a  little  while,  and 
meet  the  lord  of  thy  heart  again,  halfway  be- 
tween heaven  and  earth. 

And  hearing  this,  the  Siddha  fell  before 
him,  and  took  his  foot,  and  kissed  it,  and 
placed  it  in  her  bosom.  And  she  said:  O 
saviour  of  the  shipwrecked  that  are  sinking  in 
the  waves  of  time,  O  send  me  thy  succour  soon, 
for  I  am  like  one  dying  of  thirst  in  the  desert 
for  the  blue  water  of  m^  husband's  arms. 


IV 


And  at  that  very  moment,  the  King  her  hus- 
band on  the  earth  was  sitting  in  his  palace  hall, 
musing  on  her  memory,  and  dreaming  of  the 
past,  and  Hstening  to  the  musicians,  playing 
before  him  as  he  sat.  So  as  they  played,  as 
luck  would  have  it,  they  fell  upon  an  air,  which 
ran  into  his  heart,  and  pierced  it  like  a  poi- 
soned needle :  for  it  was  the  favourite  air  of  his 
vanished  Queen.  And  as  he  listened,  the  tears 
came  rushing  into  his  eyes,  blinding  them  with 
love-longing  and  the  blackness  of  despair. 
And  he  started  up,  and  called  aloud,  in  a  voice 
of  thunder :  Away !  begone !  Wretches,  have  ye 
conspired  together  to  break  my  heart  in  two? 
And  instantly,  those  unlucky  players  stopped 
affrighted,  and  fled  before  his  wrath  like  hares. 
And  as  all  shrank  before  him,  the  domestic 
chaplain  came  forward,  and  said  politely:  O 
King,  without  are  waiting  certain  merchants, 

37 


38  Proloo^ue 


&' 


jewellers,  who  have  come  here  by  appoint- 
ment, to  lay  their  jewels  at  thy  feet. 

Then  the  King  said,  with  a  sigh:  What  are 
all  their  gems  to  me  ?  And  yet,  no  matter :  let 
them  all  come  in. 

So  in  came  all  the  merchants,  and  showed 
the  King  each  what  he  had.  And  the  King 
went  up  and  down,  saying  sadly  to  himself: 
Now  every  pleasure  is  a  pain,  and  every  joy, 
a  grief.  For  what  are  jewels  to  me,  now  that 
she  is  no  more,  on  whom  I  would  have  hung 
them  till  she  sank  beneath  their  weight?  And 
then,  as  if  in  irony,  he  took  the  jewels  and  be- 
gan to  put  them  on  himself.  And  taking 
from  the  merchants  all  they  had,  he  hung  him- 
self all  over,  loading  himself  with  gorgeous 
gems,  with  emeralds  and  rubies,  and  pearls  and 
amethysts  and  diamonds,  and  sapphires,  and 
every  other  stone,  till  he  flashed  as  it  were  with 
a  thousand  hues,  and  resembled  an  incarnation 
of  the  spoiling  of  the  sea. 

So  as  he  went  from  one  merchant  to  an- 
other, adding  to  his  store,  he  came  suddenly 
on  an  old  merchant,  who  stood  a  little  apart 


A  Dead  Lotus  39 

from  the  rest,  with  nothing  visible  to  sell.  And 
his  head  was  of  enormous  size,  and  bare,^  and 
bald  on  the  top,  and  from  its  sides  long  thick 
white  hair  ran  down  over  his  shoulders,  and 
mingled  with  his  beard.  And  his  face  was 
wrinkled  all  over,  like  the  skin  of  a  withered 
fruit.  And  the  King  stopped  and  considered 
him,  amazed  at  the  extraordinary  size  of  his 
head,  which  resembled  a  monstrous  gourd. 
And  then  he  said:  Ha!  merchant:  thou  art 
idle.  Where  are  thy  valuables,  and  what  is 
thy  commodity?  Doubtless  that  must  be  a 
treasure,  which  thou  keepest  wrapped  away  so 
carefully  from  common  eyes.  But  come,  pro- 
duce it:  that  I  may  add  it  to  all  these.  Then 
said  the  merchant:  All  these  are  well  enough: 
and  yet,  the  thing  that  I  have  brought  the 
King  is  more  than  all  together,  and  yet 
again,  less  than  the  least.  Then  the  King 
said:  Of  what,  then,  art  thou  a  seller?  And 
the  merchant  said:  O  King,  I  am  a  seller  of 
dreams. 

'  I.  e.  he  had  no  turban  on.    In  the  East,  on  entering  p  house, 
the  head  remains  covered ;  it  is  the  shoes  which  are  removed. 


40  Prologue 

And  the  King  looked  at  him  awhile,  and  was 
seized  with  sudden  laughter.  And  he  ex- 
claimed: What  is  this,  and  who  ever  heard  of 
a  seller  of  dreams?  Art  thou  mad,  or  art  thou 
only  an  old  buffoon?  Then  that  old  merchant 
fixed  his  eyes  upon  the  King.     And  he  said: 

0  King,  who  can  tell,  whether  he  is  mad  or 
not?  But  as  for  me,  know,  that  mine  are  no 
common  dreams,  but  they  are  such  as  many 
would  give  all  they  had,  and  more  than  all 
they  had,  to  dream.  For  I  can  make  the  past 
present,  and  I  can  find  that  which  is  lost,  and 
join  together  whom  time  has  parted,  and  turn 
regret  to  laughing  joy:  and  I  can  mend  the 
broken-hearted,  and  bring  love's  fierce  emo- 
tion back,  and  into  faded  flowers  of  passion 

1  can  breathe  again  their  old  sweet  bloom,  and 
make  to  echo  in  living  ears  the  music  of  lips 
that  have  long  been  dead. 

And  as  he  spoke,  the  King  stood,  and  his 
heart  rose  up  into  his  mouth.  For  the  words 
of  the  old  merchant  played  on  it,  as  if  it  were 
a  lute,  and  tugged  at  it  like  a  cord;  and  the 
memory  of  his  wife  surged  suddenly  in  his 


A  Dead  Lotus  41 

soul,  and  swept  it  like  a  wind.  And  all  at 
once,  he  seized  that  old  man  by  the  throat, 
with  hands  that  trembled  with  the  ecstasy  of 
rage,  and  shook  him  Hke  a  leaf.  And  his  voice 
faltered  with  passion,  as  he  said:  Old  fool,  dost 
thou  mock  me?  Dost  thou  promise,  without 
performing?  Beware!  for  thou  art  playing 
with  a  fire  that  will  shrivel  thee  hke  a  blade  of 
grass. 

Then  said  the  old  merchant,  with  laughter 
in  his  wrinkled  eyes :  O  King,  thou  art  a  child, 
not  recognising  thy  physician,  and  seeking  a 
quarrel  with  the  only  one  who  can  give  thee  a 
medicine  suited  to  thy  case.  For  I  am  a  phy- 
sician, not  of  the  body,  but  of  the  soul.  So 
now,  tell  me :  wilt  thou  buy  from  me  a  dream, 
or  not?  And  the  King  looked  at  him  for  a 
moment;  and  he  drew  a  long  breath,  and  the 
tears  stood  in  his  eyes.  And  he  said:  Sell  me 
indeed  a  dream,  such  as  I  wish,  and  thou  hast 
described,  and  I  tell  thee  this,  that  I  will  not 
haggle  with  thee  over  the  price.  Then  the  old 
man  laughed  softly,  and  he  said:  Maharaj,  who 
ever  speaks  of  the  price,  before  he  has  seen  and 


42  Prologue 

tried  the  goods?  First,  thou  shalt  have  thy 
dream;  and  as  to  the  price,  we  will  leave  it: 
and  thou  thyself  shalt  name  it,  at  the  end. 
For  maybe,  didst  thou  know  the  price,  thou 
wouldst  hesitate  to  buy  at  all. 

Then  he  put  his  hand  into  his  breast,  and 
drew  out  a  little  flask.  And  he  held  that  little 
crystal  flask  up  in  the  air,  looking  for  a  ray 
of  Hght.  And  when  he  could  not  find  one, 
that  old  man  muttered  under  his  breath:  Sun, 
sun,  send  me  a  ray.  And  at  that  very  mo- 
ment, there  shot  into  the  room  a  ray  of  light, 
right  on  the  little  flask.  And  then  that  old 
man  said:  O  King,  see!  this  is  a  little  of  the 
very  essence  of  the  nectar  of  the  cold-rayed 
moon,  where  I  have  been  this  morning,  to 
fetch  it  from  that  lord  of  herbs.  And  the 
King  looked,  and  lo !  there  danced  in  that  little 
flask  a  liquor  that  laughed  and  bubbled,  and 
its  deep  blue  was  exactly  the  same  as  the  col- 
our of  his  dead  wife's  eyes.  And  Hke  them, 
it  smiled  at  him,  changing  from  hue  to  hue, 
till  it  seemed  to  him  that  those  very  eyes  were 
looking  straight  into  his  own,  out  of  the  little 


A  Dead  Lotus  43 

flask.  And  quickly  he  put  out  his  hand,  and 
snatched  it,  and  took  the  stopper  from  its 
mouth.  And  there  came  from  it  a  perfume 
that  carried  to  his  nostrils  the  scent  of  his 
dead  wife's  hair.  And  his  brain  reeled,  and 
he  put  it  hastily  to  his  lips,  to  drink.  And  as 
he  did  so,  suddenly  there  came  into  his  head 
a  thought.  And  he  paused  in  the  very  act, 
looking  at  that  old  merchant,  out  of  the  corner 
of  his  eye.  And  he  said  to  himself :  Ha !  What 
if  this  old  seeming  merchant  were  an  emissary 
of  those  foes  of  mine,  whom  I  defeated,  to  give 
me  a  deadly  draught?  Or  even  so,  what  mat- 
ter? Let  me  drink  quickly,  the  more  poison- 
ous, the  better.  For  life  without  her  will  not 
be  worse,  even  when  turned  to  death. 

And  then,  at  a  single  gulp,  he  drank  the 
contents  of  the  flask.  And  instantly,  he  sank 
back,  and  lay  on  the  cushions  on  which  he  fell, 
buried  in  a  magic  sleep. 

But  as  soon  as  he  saw  that  the  King  slept, 
that  old  merchant  stooped  down,  and  squatted 
quickly  on  the  floor,  with  his  two  hands 
grounded   between   his    feet,    and   his    knees 


44  Prologue 

reaching  to  his  ears.  And  there  he  remained, 
with  closed  eyes,  couched  in  the  pitcher  pos- 
ture Hke  a  lonely,  water-watching  crane,  and 
still,  as  if  he  had  been  painted  on  the  wall. 


Love's  Looking-GIass 


45 


Love's  Looking-Glass 
I 

SKY-CRYSTAL 

But  the  King's  soul  rose  out  of  his  body, 
like  a  snake  escaping  from  its  slough.  And 
he  hovered  for  only  a  single  instant,  over  that 
empty  shell  of  him,  lying,  loaded  with  price- 
less gems,  on  the  floor  below,  and  then  shot 
up  into  the  blue  sky,  like  a  flame  parted  from 
its  wick.  And  as  he  flew  like  a  thought 
through  space,  going  like  the  wind  he  knew 
not  where,  the  King  said  to  himself:  Ha!  so 
then,  I  was  not  deceived.  Certainly,  that  old 
impostor  was  not  a  merchant,  but  a  secret 
agent  of  my  foes,  and  now  I  am  dead,  beyond 
a  doubt.  And  that  delicious  poison  was  as 
speedy  as  it  was  beautiful  and  sweet.  And 
now  I  can  say  farewell  to  life  without  regret. 
And  yet  I  should  like  to  know,  where  in  the 
world  I  can  be  going. 

47 


48  Love's  Looking-Glass 

So  as  he  floated  in  the  air,  bathed  in  un- 
utterable peace,  there  came  over  his  mounting 
soul  a  feeling  of  supreme  disdain  and  loathing 
for  his  body  that  was  lying  down  below.  And 
he  said  to  himself,  as  he  closed  his  eyes:  Ah! 
joy,  for  I  have  left  behind  that  wretched 
sheath,  with  all  its  poor  surroundings  and  its 
miserable  mundane  ties.  I  have  emerged,  as 
it  were,  from  a  charnel  ground,  and  surely  that 
divine  liquor  was,  as  that  old  vendor  said,  a 
very  potent  essence  of  nectar  and  celestial 
wine,  mixed  of  the  icy  camphor  and  the  oozy 
juices  of  the  moon.^  For  I  feel  Hke  one  in- 
toxicated, and  I  swim,  as  it  were,  in  perfume, 
whose  pungent  and  excessive  sweetness  al- 
most robs  me  of  my  giddied  sense;  and  I  lie 
on  the  azure  ether  as  if  on  a  silken  couch, 
poised  as  it  were  between  earth  and  heaven, 
and  yet  I  seem  to  soar  like  some  earth-despis- 
ing spirit-roamer  in  the  sky. 

Then  after  a  while,  he  opened  his  eyes,  and 
looked  round,  and  saw  himself  alone  in  the 

» Three  things  are  essentially  associated  in  Sanskrit  poetry 
with  the  moon — icy  cold,  camphor,  and  the  medicinal  virtue 
of  drugs. 


Sky-Crystal  49 

vault  of  space,  surrounded  by  the  stars.  And 
he  was  rushing  like  a  comet  ^  through  the  man- 
sions of  the  moon,  and  he  saw  Chitra,  and 
Swati,  and  Rohini  and  the  Hunter,-  and  the 
rest,  and  far  in  the  north,  the  polar  star.  And 
he  looked  down  on  the  Seven  Rishis,^  and  saw, 
far  below  him,  the  icy  summits  of  the  Snowy 
Mountain,  with  the  yellow  digit  of  the  moon 
clinging  to  the  peak  of  Kailas,  like  the  earth 
of  old  on  the  horn  of  the  holy  Boar.^ 

And  then  suddenly,  memory  pierced  him 
like  a  needle.  And  he  cried  out:  Alas!  I  am 
still  alone,  and  in  this  respect,  even  death  has 
brought  no  change.  And  what  then  is  the 
use  of  death,  if  it  does  not  restore  me  to  my 
wife?  And  what  is  the  use  of  this  rushing 
speed?  For  I  am  hurrying,  against  my  will, 
into  the  very  zenith  of  infinite  space. 

And  even  as  he  spoke,  he  stopped,  and 
hung  in  the  air  Uke  a  fleck  of  cloud.      And 

»  Falling  meteors,  says  the  Brihat  Sanhita,  are  the  fruits  of 
virtue  enjoyed  in  heaven  dropping  in  visible  form. 

2  Orion. 

J  The  Great  Bear. 

*  Wishnu,  who  in  his  third  incarnation  became  a  boar  to  sup- 
port the  earth  :  Jaya  jagadisha  hare! 

4 


50  Love's  Looking-Glass 

strange!  as  if  the  very  thought  had  produced 
her,  suddenly  he  found  his  wife  in  his  arms. 
And  as  her  own  arms  ghded  around  his  neck, 
and  her  bosom  beat  against  his  own,  his  hair 
stood  on  end  with  amazement  and  delight. 
And  he  heard  the  beating  of  his  own  heart, 
throbbing  like  thunder  through  the  realms  of 
space.  And  just  as  he  was  going  to  speak, 
she  stopped  his  mouth  by  kissing  him  with 
soft  lips  opening  into  a  smile,  and  eyes  that  re- 
flected the  colour  of  the  sky.  And  she  said: 
Quick,  let  us  lose  no  time.  Then  he  said: 
Ah!  couldst  thou  die,  leaving  me  without  thee 
in  that  hell  below?  Then  she  said  again: 
How  can  mortals  disobey,  when  destiny  de- 
crees? It  was  from  necessity  that  I  left  thee, 
and  not  from  choice.  But  let  us  quickly  make 
the  most  of  a  little  time,  granted  only  by  the 
favour  of  the  God  who  has  the  moon  in  his 
hair,  and  destined  to  end  and  disappear  almost 
as  soon  as  it  has  begun.  Dost  thou  remember 
how  we  met,  and  saw  each  other  first  of  all, 
away  in  the  wood  below?  Come  back  now 
once  more  with  me,  and  let  us  live  and  love 


Sky-Crystal  5 1 

again,  and  taste  the  nectar  of  repetition,  be- 
fore we  part  to  meet  no  more. 

And  instantly  the  King  lost  his  senses,  and 
lay  in  a  dream  within  a  dream.  And  as  they 
floated  in  each  other's  arms,  between  the 
heaven  and  the  earth,  the  past  rose  up  out  of 
the  dark,  before  him,  spread  like  a  picture  be- 
fore his  eyes  and  breathed  hke  a  tale  into  his 
ear. 


II 


SPRUNG  FROM  THE  MUD 

And  once  again,  he  rode  through  the  forest 
at  headlong  speed,  and  the  trees  flew  by  him 
like  frightened  shadows,  while  his  horse  ran 
on,  and  carried  him  swiftly  whither  it  would, 
into  the  forest  depths.  And  then  at  last,  it 
stopped  short,  on  the  very  edge  of  a  great 
river,  close  to  an  aged  banyan  tree,  whose 
hanging  roots  dropped  from  the  branches  to 
the  ground,  and  with  their  network  almost  hid 
a  little  ruined  shrine,  whose  roof  their  pillars 
pierced  and  split,  and  whose  steps  ran  down 
into  the  stream  beneath  their  sacred  shade, 
where  the  quiet  water  was  httered  thick  with 
lotus  flowers  and  floating  withered  leaves. 
And  there  he  fell  from  his  horse's  back  and 
threw  himself  upon  the  ground:  and  he  and 
his  horse  together  slaked  their  intolerable 
thirst,  with  neither  eyes  nor  ears  for  aught, 
till  they  had  drunk  their  fill.  And  then,  with  a 
wisp  of  leaves  and  grass,  he  began  to  wipe  the 

.52 


Sprung  from  the  Mud  53 

foam  and  sweat  from  the  quivering  limbs  of 
that  noble  horse,  dearer  to  him,  till  that  very 
moment,  than  anything  else  on  earth. 

So  as  he  stood,  wholly  intent  on  his  horse 
and  his  work,  he  heard  behind  him  a  little 
rustle,  and  a  low  cry.  And  he  looked  round. 
And  in  that  instant,  like  a  flash  of  lightning, 
he  utterly  forgot  his  horse,  and  himself,  and 
everything  else  in  the  three  worlds. 

For  there,  standing  a  little  way  off,  under 
that  old  root-dropping  fig,  was  one  who  re- 
sembled the  guardian  spirit  of  that  virgin 
forest's  enchanted  beauty,  caught  in  the  very 
act  of  changing  into  a  feminine  form,  and 
leaving  him  in  doubt  as  he  gazed,  whether  she 
was  a  woman  or  a  tree,  or  a  being  mixed  of 
both.  For  the  coarse  red  bark  that  clothed 
her  left  bare  her  arms  and  feet,  which  were 
shaped  like  those  of  Hari's  darling,^  and  it 
cased  and  swathed  her  soft  round  limbs,  allow- 
ing them  to  escape,  like  the  calyx  of  a  new 
young  flower,  or  a  rough  hard  husk  on  the 
very  point  of  bursting  open,  by  reason  of  the 

I  The  Hindoo  Aphrodite. 


54  Love's  Looking-Glass 

ripeness  of  the  tempting  fruit  of  womanhood, 
hardly  to  be  held  within.  And  a  spray  of 
blue  convolvulus  ^  hung  twining  all  about  her, 
trailing  hke  a  creeper  from  her  hair,  which  was 
twisted  up  into  a  great  dark  knot  on  the  very 
top  of  her  pretty  head,  and  hung  there  Hke  a 
purple  bank  of  thunder-cloud,  out  of  whose 
shadow  her  great  blue  eyes  looked  round  as 
the  moon  with  wonder  at  the  thing  they  saw 
before  them.  And  her  chin  was  very  pointed, 
shaped  like  a  pippal  leaf,  and  over  it  the  mind- 
born  god  had  set  the  seal  of  his  bow  in  her 
face,  black  in  the  twin-arch  of  her  brow,  and 
red  in  her  juicy  bimbd  lips.  And  astonish- 
ment flushed  her  cheeks,  like  fruits,  with  a  spot 
of  damask  blush,  like  bloom.  And  a  single 
lotus,  red  as  blood,  nestled  in  the  little  hollow 
dip  between  the  mounds  of  her  rising  breasts, 
upland  hills  where  the  robber  Love  lay  lurk- 
ing, to  spoil  the  traveller  of  his  heart.  And 
the  sweeping  curve  of  her  heavy  hips  stole  the 


•  The  Kdmalatd  is  commonly  described  as  red :  this  was 
perhaps  some  kind  of  Ipomaea,  allied  to  the  great  white  moon- 
flower  of  Ceylon. 


Sprung  from  the  Mud  55 

eyes  of  the  King  away  from  her  slender  clasp- 
inviting  waist,  till  it  came  to  an  end  in  the 
nook  of  her  inward-bending  knee.  And  her 
left  hand  rested  gently  on  a  pillar  of  the  tree, 
while  her  right  was  stretched  before  her,  bend- 
ing back,  palm  upwards,  with  all  its  fingers 
spread,  till  the  tip  of  its  forefinger  just  touched 
her  lower  lip.  And  Love  fished  for  the 
King's  soul  with  her  lovely  wrist  and  arm,  and 
took  it  in  their  net.  And  she  was  standing 
bolt  upright,  poised  like  a  flower  on  her  left 
foot's  toes,  with  her  right  foot  just  behind  it, 
exactly  Hke  a  graceful  fawn  suddenly  frozen 
into  stone  when  running  at  its  utmost  speed 
by  the  sight  of  danger  in  its  path.  For  she 
stood  absolutely  still,  save  that  the  lotus  on 
her  breast  was  lifted  quickly  up  and  down  by 
the  flutter  of  the  maiden-wave  on  which  it 
swam. 

So  they  two  stood,  still  as  death,  each 
thunderstruck  by  the  other's  vision,  like  a 
panther  and  its  prey.^     And  then  at  last,  after 

>  An  "  old  shikarri"  told  me,  that  he  saw  on  one  occasion  a 
panther  stalking  a  goat.  As  soon  as  they  saw  each  other,  they 
both  stood  stock-stUl,  so  long,  that  at  last  the  goat  concluded 


56  Love's  Looking-Glass 

a  time  that  seemed  to  each  in  spite  of  its 
length  but  a  single  instant,  for  each  was  lost 
in  the  other,  standing  on  the  threshold  of 
Love's  dream-bower  where  years  are  moments 
and  time  lies  dead,  she  spoke,  and  broke  the 
spell.  And  she  said,  softly:  It  is  a  man. 
Surely,  thou  art  a  man?  And  the  King  said, 
with  a  smile:  O  maid,  what  else?  Then  she 
said  again:  And  thy  companion,  what  is  he? 
And  the  King  said:  He  is  a  horse.  Then  she 
clapped  her  hands  together,  and  exclaimed, 
as  she  held  them  joined:  Ah!  stand  still  a  lit- 
tle longer,  and  let  me  watch  both  him  and  thee. 
For  I  have  never  seen  before,  either  a  horse  or 
a  man.  So  he  stood  still  as  she  desired;  and 
as  she  watched  him,  he  watched  her.  And  her 
blue  eyes  rested  on  him,  and  entered  into  his 
soul,  and  shook  it  so,  that  he  began  to  tremble 
all  over  with  the  horror  of  extreme  delight. 
And  he  said  to  himself :  I  too,  I  too,  see  a  wo- 
man, for  the  very  first  time  in  all  my  life; 

his  panther  was  a  mere  illusion,  and  recommenced  his  dinner, 
browsing  with  unruffled  mind.  He  would  have  paid  dear  for 
his  simplicity,  had  not  his  crafty  stalker  been  this  time  stalked 
himself. 


Sprung  from  the  Mud  57 

which,  till  this  very  moment,  has  been  wasted 
and  empty  and  worthless,  and  contemptible 
and  without  a  point.  Ha!  I  am  hke  a  dark 
black  night,  that  has  suddenly  been  flooded 
with  the  rapture  of  a  golden  sun.  O  hail!  O 
bright  great  God,  in  the  form  of  that  blue- 
eyed  beautiful  thing  before  me,  that  fills  me 
with  astonishment  and  laughter  and  supreme 
delight.  And  presently  he  said:  O  thou  with 
the  blue  flowers  in  thy  hair  and  the  blue  won- 
der in  thy  enormous  eyes,  that  resemble  those 
of  a  child,  how  can  it  be  that  in  a  world  so 
full  of  them,  thou  shouldst  never  yet  have  set 
those  eyes  on  either  a  man  or  a  horse? 

Then  she  started  as  if  from  a  dream.  And 
she  came  up  close  to  him,  and  raised  her  hand, 
as  though  she  would  touch  his  arm:  and  barely 
touched  it,  with  a  touch  like  that  of  a  leaf, 
which  struck  the  King  like  a  heavy  blow.  And 
she  said,  looking  up  at  him,  doubtfully:  But 
O  thou  great,  beautiful,  deep-voiced  man,  how 
should  I  see  either?  For  out  of  this  wood  I 
never  was,  and  into  it  nothing  ever  comes,  and 
in  it  are  only  its  own  trees,  with  the  flowers, 


58  Love's  Looking-Glass 

and  the  river,  and  the  forest  beasts,  and  my 
father  and  myself.  Then  the  King  said:  Thy 
father?  And  is  not  he  a  man?  And  she 
said:  Nay,  if  thou  art,  he  is  not.  For  he  is 
old,  very  old,  and  smaller  even  than  myself, 
and  his  hair  and  beard  are  thin  and  white,  and 
his  arms  and  legs  are  rough  as  bark,  and  dry 
and  thin  as  sticks.  And  he  sits  always  stiff 
and  silent,  plunged  in  meditation,  resembling 
the  stump  of  an  ancient  tree :  and  it  is  the  same 
as  if  he  were  not  alive.^  And  if  thou  wilt,  I 
will  show  him  to  thee,  a  little  way  within  the 
wood :  and  yet,  it  were  better  not,  for  it  would 
but  distract  his  meditation.  But  thou  art  tall 
and  straight  and  strong,  and  glorious,  and 
young  like  me:  and  yet  far  bigger  than  my- 
self !  for  see !  how  even  on  tiptoe  I  reach  hardly 
to  thy  shoulder.  And  thy  hair  is  like  the  lion's 
mane,  and  thou  art  like  him  to  look  at,  and 


>  These  ancient  forest  hermits,  who  lived  alone  in  jungle, 
doing  penance  and  eating  nothing,  are  one  of  the  conventions 
of  Hindoo  fairy  stories.  Such  a  one,  like  the  mediaeval  saint, 
a  bundle  of  bones  ivhose  breath  corrupts  the  world  before  his 
death,  generally  has  a  daughter,  to  whose  rare  beauty  he  forms 
the  contrast :  that  sharp,  fierce  contrast,  which  is  the  essence 
of  the  East,  like  life  and  death. 


Sprung  from  the  Mud  59 

wonderful  in  every  way,  and  such  as  I  could 
never  have  believed.  For  often  I  have  thought 
of  men,  and  wondered  what  they  could  be  like, 
but  never  dreamed  of  one  like  thee.  Look 
only  at  my  hand,  and  thine,  or  at  my  arm,  or 
foot,  and  thine,  and  see  how  small  and  weak^  a 
thing  I  am,  compared  with  thee  I 

And  the  King  looked  at  her,  as  she  spoke; 
and  when  she  ended,  he  began  to  laugh  for 
very  joy.  And  he  said:  O  beautiful  little  blue- 
eyed  creature,  thou  dost  not  know  thy  own 
strength,  nor  where  it  lies,  but  how  as  to  thy 
mother?  Hadst  thou,  indeed,  a  mother,  or 
didst  thou  not  rather  grow,  like  a  flower,  out 
of  some  forest  tree?  Then  she  said:  Nay,  I 
had  a  mother:  but  alas!  long  ago  she  went 
away,  before  I  can  remember.  For  she  was  a 
heavenly  Apsaras,  whom  Indra  sent  down 
here  below,  to  tempt  my  father  in  this  wood, 
and  turn  him  from  his  penance.^       And  she 

>  Abala,  «'  weak,"  ''without  strength,"  is  a  common  Sanskrit 
word  for  a  woman,  Vas  infirmius. 

'  Indra  is  represented  as  jealous  of  all  ascetics,  lest  they  should 
reach  his  total  of  a  century  of  sacrifices  (Shatakratu).  But  his 
battle  with  Raghu  on  this  head  ended  in  a  compromise  (vide 
Jiaghuwanshd,  canto  iii.). 


6o  Love's  Looking-Glass 

came  and  stayed  with  him  awhile,  and  after- 
wards she  went  away,  flying  up  to  heaven, 
and  leaving  me  behind  her  with  my  father  in 
the  wood.  And  the  King  said:  I  do  not 
blame  thy  father:  what  wonder,  indeed,  if  she 
overcame  his  resolution,  did  she  resemble  her 
future  daughter,  even  a  very  little?  And  thy 
words  require  no  other  witness  to  their  truth, 
except  thyself.  For  beyond  a  doubt  thou  art 
the  very  daughter  of  an  Apsaras.  Then  she 
said:  And  hast  thou  ever  seen  an  Apsaras? 
And  the  King  laughed,  and  he  said:  Nay,  not 
until  this  moment.  But  come  now,  let  me 
only  tether  my  horse  to  yonder  tree,  and  then, 
if  thou  wilt,  we  will  sit  and  talk  together. 
And  I  will  be  thy  playfellow,  and  will  tell  thee 
things  that  thou  dost  not  know,  and  thou  shall 
tell  me  of  nothing  but  thyself. 

Then  she  said  joyfully:  Ah!  tie  him,  and 
come  quickly.  And  the  King  stood  looking 
at  her  for  a  moment,  and  then  he  said:  Sweet 
Blue-eyes,  and  art  thou  not  afraid  of  me? 
And  she  looked  at  him  enquiringly,  with  no 
shadow  of  suspicion,  and  said :  Of  what  should 


Sprung  from  the  Mud  6i 

I  be  afraid?  For  art  thou  not  a  man,  and 
which  of  the  Creator's  creatures  injures  its 
own  kind?  And  the  King  gazed  into  her  soul, 
through  the  window  of  her  clear  and  smiHng 
eyes,  and  again  he  laughed  aloud  for  sheer  de- 
hght.  And  he  said  to  himself:  Ha!  exquisite 
is  her  intoxicating  simplicity,  in  that  she  does 
not  know,  that  man  alone  is  the  exception  to 
her  rule.  And  then  he  said:  Sweet  forest 
flower,  what  if  I  were  tempted  to  pluck  thee, 
and  carry  thee  away  with  me  on  my  horse? 
And  yet,  fear  nothing :  for  thou  art  very  right, 
and  I  am,  of  all  the  Creator's  creatures,  the 
one  who  would  be  most  loth  to  do  thee  harm. 
And  men  were  made  strong  by  the  Creator 
for  this  very  reason,  to  guard  such  wonderful 
weak  things  as  thee.  And  he  said  to  himself: 
Now,  let  my  followers  only  not  find  me  till 
the  evening,  and  by  the  favour  of  the  Deity,  I 
will  win  the  trust  of  this  bewitching  maiden, 
and  get  her  to  come  away  with  me.  Or  if  not, 
I  will  stay  in  the  wood  with  her  for  ever,  be- 
coming for  her  sake  like  one  of  these  forest 
trees,  rooted  to  the  spot. 


62  Love's  Looking-Glass 

And  then  he  took  his  horse,  and  tied  him  to 
the  tree.  And  then  they  went  together  and 
sat  down  upon  the  moss-grown  steps  that  ran 
down  into  the  river :  he  on  one,  and  she  on  an- 
other, just  below. 


Ill 

PUEUSHA  AND  PRAKRITI 

And  then,  for  a  little  while,  he  sat  in  silence, 
looking  now  at  the  river,  and  now  at  her.  But 
she  gazed  at  him  with  great  eyes  that  never 
left  him  for  a  moment,  and  saw  nothing  but 
himself.  And  suddenly  he  said  to  her:  Blue- 
eyes,  Blue-eyes,  how  long  is  it,  since  I  met 
thee  in  the  wood?  Then  she  said:  It  is  but  a 
single  moment.  Then  he  said:  Thou  art  ut- 
terly mistaken :  it  is  more  than  many  thousand 
years.  And  as  she  looked  at  him  in  wonder, 
he  exclaimed:  Ha!  there  it  is  again,  and  O 
how  beautiful  thou  art!  O  thine  eyes  are  full 
of  wonder  and  my  soul  is  full  of  joy.  Dear 
child,  see,  yonder  is  the  river,  flowing  as  it  has 
been  flowing  ever  since  it  first  began ;  and  here 
am  I,  to  thee  the  first  and  only  man,  for  thou 
hast  never  seen  another,  and  there  art  thou, 
for  me  the  only  woman,  and  her  very  type 


64  Love's  Looking-Glass 

and  soul.  And  like  the  ancient  Soul  of  Man/ 
I  have  been  wandering  about,  forlorn  and 
wretched  and  lonely  in  the  dark  without  thee, 
and  now  at  last  I  have  found  in  thee  my  Prak- 
riti,  since  thou  art  the  very  spirit  of  the  beauty 
of  this  wood,  incarnate  in  a  woman's  lovely 
form.  And  as  I  look  at  thee,  laughter  seems 
to  fill  my  soul,  for  joy  that  I  have  found  thee, 
and  I  feel  as  if,  like  thee,  I  had  suddenly  be- 
come a  child,  whereas  before  I  was  a  man. 
And  all  this  has  come  about  in  the  moment 
since  we  met,  a  moment  which  is  like  a  door, 
opening  on  one  life,  and  closing  on  another, 
and  it  resembles  the  beginning  and  the  end. 

Then  she  said:  I  do  not  understand  thee: 
yet  speak  on,  without  stopping:  for  I  could 
look  at  thee  and  listen  to  thy  voice,  for  ever. 
And  the  King  said:  Blue-eyes,  if  thou  dost 
not  understand,  no  matter:  and  possibly  I  am 
speaking  at  random  words  without  a  meaning, 
for  thy  great  eyes  deprive  me  of  my  reason, 


»  Purusha  and  Prakriti  answer,  in  a  sense,  to  our  Adam  and 
Eve :  as  the  Germans  would  say,  the  Ur-mensch  and  Ur-weib 
of  the  world. 


Purusha  and  Prakriti  65 

and  I  know  not  very  well  what  I  say.  But 
now  it  is  thy  turn.  And  tell  me,  what  dost 
thou  do  with  thyself  alone  in  this  empty  wood? 
Hast  thou  companions  other  than  myself? 
Then  she  said :  I  have  for  companions  the  deer 
of  the  forest,  and  the  parrots  that  live  in  this 
great  tree,  and  the  peacock  that  thou  seest 
yonder  on  the  temple  wall,  and  the  crows  that 
come  to  eat  the  daily  offering,  and  the  flowers 
which  I  water  and  wear  woven  in  my  hair. 
And  I  have  many  things  to  do.  For  some- 
times I  ramble  in  the  wood,  and  hunt  for 
flowers,  and  watch  the  monkeys  and  the  squir- 
rels that  play  in  the  trees:  and  when  I  am 
tired,  I  sit  still,  playing  with  my  hair,  and  roU- 
ing  and  unrolling  it,  for  it  is  longer  than  I 
am  myself  and  a  trouble  and  a  hindrance  to 
me,  till  I  knot  it  up  thus  out  of  the  way  on  the 
top  of  my  head,  like  my  father's.^  And  some- 
times I  go  and  see  my  father,  but  I  am  afraid 
of  him,  for  though  his  body  is  there,  his  soul  is 
almost  always  absent  from  the  body.      And 

»  Ascetics  wear  their  hair  twisted  in  a  knot,  in  imitation  of 
the  prince  of  them  all,  Maheshwara. 


66  Love's  Looking-Glass 

sometimes  I  sit  by  the  river,  when  the  wind  is 
still,  and  watch  in  its  mirror  the  clouds  that 
float  in  the  blue  sky  far  below,  like  the  swans 
upon  its  wave.  And  the  river  itself  is  a 
friend  to  me,  for  every  day  I  bathe  in  it,  and 
I  often  sit  and  wonder  whence  it  comes  and 
where  it  goes,  and  look  to  see  what  it  carries 
down:  and  in  the  rainy  season  it  changes,  and 
grows  red  and  angry,  and  murmurs  and 
chafes,  and  swells  till  it  reaches  to  the  very 
foot  of  the  tree.  And  sometimes  when  the 
moon  is  full,  I  hide  in  the  hollow  trees  at  nighty 
and  peep  out  at  the  elephants  as  they  wander 
down  to  drink.  And  the  King  said:  But  do 
the  other  animals  not  molest  thee?  Then  she 
said:  Nay,  for  they  dare  not:  for  they  all 
know  my  father  well,  who  understands  their 
language,  and  has  warned  them.  And  they 
fear  him,  lest  he  should  curse  them  if  they 
harmed  me,  and  keep  them  from  ever  rising  up 
into  humanity,  being  prisoned  for  ever  by  the 
power  of  his  curse  in  the  dungeon  of  their 
creeping  ^  bodies.     And  the  King  said,  with 

»  When  Ovid  contrasted  the  os  sublime  of  man  with  that  of 


Purusha  and  Prakriti  67 

emphasis:  Aye!  they  who  should  injure  thee 
would  indeed  deserve  to  be  immured  for  all 
eternity  in  the  lowest  of  all  living  forms.  And 
I  thank  thy  excellent  old  father  for  preserving 
thee  under  the  shadow  of  his  awful  curse.  And 
yet,  for  all  this,  surely  thy  life  was  lonely? 
Didst  thou  never  long  for  a  companion  of  thine 
own  kind,  such  a  playfellow,  for  instance,  as 
myself? 

Then  she  said:  Though  I  knew  it  not  before, 
yet  now  that  thou  art  come,  I  see  that  I  was 
lonely.  For  often  I  used  to  watch  myself  re- 
flected in  the  water,  and  talk  to  my  image,  and 
wish  that  it  could  answer  me.  And  sometimes 
in  the  moonlight  I  would  play  with  my 
shadow,  and  wish,  oh!  so  much,  that  it  could 
come  to  life.  And  often  I  used  to  long,  not 
knowing  what  I  wanted;  but  now  I  am  very 
sure  that  it  was  thou.  And  when  I  look  at 
thee,  and  hear  thy  voice,  I  cannot  understand 
how  I  could  have  lived  without  thee.      For 


the  animals,  he  gave  expression  to  the  idea  that  underlies  the 
curious  Sanskrit  term  for  the  brute-creation,  the  horizontal- 
goers  {tiryag-jdti). 


68  Love's  Looking-Glass 

thou  art  like  another  self,  made  visible  in  a 
human  form :  and  yet  thou  art  other,  and  more 
than  that  first  self,  which  is  I. 

And  the  King  gazed  at  her,  with  fu-e  in  his 
veins.  And  he  said  to  himself:  She  is  inno- 
cence itself,  in  a  virgin  form  of  matchless  and 
incomparable  beauty,  and  speaks  without  un- 
derstanding the  meaning  of  her  own  words. 
For  love  lies  hiding,  lurking  in  her  soul,  and 
yet  she  does  not  know  it.  And  yet,  though 
she  does  not,  I  know  well,  and  only  too  well, 
now,  what  it  is  to  be  in  love :  for  she  burns  my 
heart  like  a  flame,  all  the  more,  that  she  is 
utterly  unconscious  of  the  power  of  her  own 
beauty.  And  then  he  said:  Blue-eyes,  canst 
thou  tell  me  this?  Say,  wouldst  thou  rather 
that  I  were  in  very  truth  the  double  of  thyself, 
like  thy  image  in  the  water,  a  woman,  and 
not  a  man?  And  she  answered,  without  hesi- 
tation: Nay,  it  is  better  as  it  is.  And  the 
King  trembled  with  joy.  And  he  said:  Yet 
why?  Then  she  pondered  for  a  while,  and 
then  she  said:  I  cannot  tell.  And  yet  I  feel, 
that  I  would  rather  have  thee  different  from 


Purusha  and  Prakriti  69 

myself  than  the  same;  and  yet  I  know  not 
why.  But  what  does  it  matter,  why?  since 
it  is  better  as  it  is.  And  the  King  said  with 
emotion:  Sweet,  thou  art  right.  Aye!  it  is 
far  better,  and  it  does  not  matter  why. 

And  as  he  spoke,  there  came  a  murmur,  and 
a  rushing  sound  in  the  air.  And  he  looked  up 
in  terror,  and  listened,  and  exclaimed:  Ah! 
what  is  that?  Then  she  said:  It  is  nothing 
but  the  sighing  of  the  wind  in  the  hollows  of 
the  young  bamboos. 


IV 

BUBBLES 

And  the  King  sighed  also,  with  relief:  for 
he  feared  that  his  followers  had  found  him  in 
the  wood.  And  then  he  said:  Blue-eyes,  hast 
thou  a  name?  Then  she  said:  I  have  only  the 
name  which  was  my  mother's.  And  the  King 
said:  What  was  that?  Then  she  said:  Long 
ago,  when  my  father  first  saw  my  mother  in 
the  wood,  she  was  standing  by  a  bush,  which 
had  just  burst  into  blossom  all  over,  as  if  by 
the  touch  of  her  foot.^  And  the  bees  were 
humming  and  bustling  eagerly  all  about  it 
and  her,  as  if  they  wished  to  kiss  her, 
and  my  father  saw  it,  and  he  called  her  by  a 
name  of  his  own,  that  has  come  by  inheritance 
also  to  me.  For  my  father  has  never  called 
me  anything  else.     And  the  King  said:  And 

>  There  is  a  beautiful  Indian  idea,  that  the  foot  of  a  pretty- 
woman  will  cause  a  particular  tree  (I  cannot  recollect  which) 
to  break  into  blossom. 

70 


Bubbles  71 

what  then  was  the  name?  And  she  said: 
Alichumbita/  And  the  King  clappedhishands, 
and  exclaimed:  Certainly,  thy  father  is  admir- 
able, and  thy  name  appropriate.  And  sure  I 
am,  that  there  must  be  more  than  the  name  of 
relationship  between  that  happy  bush  and  thee. 
And  I  am  tempted  to  believe  that  thy  story 
of  an  Apsaras  was  false,  and  that  thou  hadst 
for  a  mother  no  other  than  the  very  indwelling 
spirit  of  that  sweetly-scented,  bee-haunted 
bush.  Then  she  said :  Nay,  my  mother  was  an 
Apsaras.  And  the  King  exclaimed:  How 
shall  I  believe  thee?  For  already  I  am  be- 
ginning to  doubt  whether  thou  ever  hadst 
either  mother  or  father,  and  wert  not  rather 
directly  compounded  by  the  Deity  himself  in 
the  form  of  a  bee,  going  from  flower  to  flower, 
and  culling  thy  composition  out  of  every 
flower's  fragrant  essence  and  every  blossom's 
painted  bloom.  And  she  said  laughing:  And 
what  then  was  thy  composition?  And  the  King 
looked  at  her  joyously,  and  said:  The  Deity 
was  thy  creator,  and  thou  art  mine.     For  I 

» '^Kissed  hy  the  6ees."    (Note,  that  the  third  syllable  rhymes, 
not  with  crumb,  but  with  room,  pronounced  rather  short.) 


72  Love's  Looking-Glass 

never  lived  until  this  moment,  and  this  is  all 
thy  doing.  Thou  hast  found  me  like  an  empty- 
shell,  and  filled  me  with  colour  and  emotion 
and  the  salt  of  beauty  and  the  sound  of 
laughter  and  the  tossing  to  and  fro  of  the 
waves  of  pleasure  and  delight.  Now  put  me 
to  thy  ear,  and  I  shall  echo  like  the  sea.  Then 
she  said:  Once  more,  I  do  not  understand. 
And  the  King  said :  O  ocean,  no  matter.  But 
thy  shell  must  murmur,  being  full  of  thee, 
whether  it  will  or  no.  And  yet,  this  at  least 
now  thou  dost  surely  understand,  that  I  was 
right,  and  that  ages  have  elapsed,  since  we  met 
each  other  a  little  while  ago  in  the  wood.  For 
I  have  utterly  forgotten  every  fragment  of  my 
life  that  went  before,  and  as  I  said,  I  have 
begun  to  live,  only  since  I  saw  thy  face.  And 
thou  hast  discovered  that  thy  life  in  the  wood 
was  very  lonely  till  I  came.  And  it  is  as 
though  we  had  both  been  sleeping,  and  had 
just  waked  up.  And  now  we  are  playfellows, 
and  I  will  be  King,  and  thou  shall  be  Queen. 
Or  hast  thou  never  heard  of  kings  and 
queens?     Then  she  said:  Nay,  I  have  heard. 


Bubbles  73 

For  formerly,  before  my  father  became  so 
utterly  devoted  to  asceticism,  he  used  to  tell 
me  stories.  And  in  almost  every  story,  there 
was  a  king  and  queen.  Then  the  King  said: 
And  if  then  I  were  king,  wouldst  thou  come 
away  with  me  and  be  my  queen?  And  she 
laughed,  and  said:  But  what  sort  of  queen 
should  I  be,  that  know  nothing  of  the  duties 
and  behaviour  of  a  queen? 

Then  he  said:  Sweet  little  Queen,  although 
thou  dost  not  know  it,  thy  qualifications  for 
the  post  of  queen  are  such  that  they  could  not 
be  surpassed.  And  the  duties  are  easy  to  be 
learned,  and  the  pleasures  more  than  thou 
couldst  dream.  Only  come  with  me,  and  I 
will  show  thee  what  they  are.  Or  if  thou 
wilt,  I  will  draw  thee  a  picture  in  the  air,  and 
hold  it  up  before  thee,  to  show  thee  as  in  a 
mirror  thy  life  as  a  queen,  and  give  thee  a  fore- 
taste of  its  nectar.  Hast  thou  never  watched 
the  bubbles  on  the  surface  of  the  stream? 
Dost  thou  not  know  how  every  bubble  is  like 
a  little  heaven,  and  glows  for  a  moment  with 
every  colour  of  the  sky,  and  bursts:  but  the 


74  Love's  Looking-Glass 

sky  remains?  So  is  it  with  my  picture.  For 
like  a  bubble,  it  will  burst  as  soon  as  painted, 
being  only  words:  but  the  heaven  which  it 
shows  thee  in  its  mirror  shall  be  thine,  as  long 
as  life  endures. 

Then  she  said:  Draw,  then,  thy  picture,  and 
let  me  see  thy  heaven.  And  she  settled  her- 
self to  listen,  leaning  her  cheek  upon  her  hand, 
and  looking  at  the  King  so  sagely  that  he 
shook  with  agitation,  so  intense  was  his  desire 
to  take  her  in  his  arms.  And  he  exclaimed: 
Blue  eyes,  come  and  be  my  Queen,  and  I  will 
put  thee  in  a  palace,  and  build  it  for  thee 
seven  stories  high,  of  ebony  and  sandalwood, 
and  of  silver  and  of  gold.  O  come  and  be  my 
Queen,  and  thou  shalt  walk  on  pavements  more 
worthy  of  thy  little  feet  than  this  rough 
ground,  on  marble  of  many  colours,  and  on 
floors  of  precious  stones.  Only  be  my  Queen, 
and  I  will  strip  thee  of  thy  bark,  and  wrap 
thee  in  silky  webs  and  tissues  coloured  like 
the  rainbow,  till  like  the  moon  behind  a  filmy 
cloud,  thy  symmetry  shall  borrow  beauty  from 
tell-tale  veils  of  gossamer  and  envelopes  of 


Bubbles  75 

woven  gauze.  Ah!  come  with  me  and  be  my 
httle  Queen,  and  I  will  load  thy  neck  and  arms 
with  jewels,  and  thou  shall  play  with  heaps  of 
pearl,  and  coral,  and  all  the  riches  of  the  sea. 
Aye,  shouldst  thou  prick  thy  finger,  I  will 
mend  it  with  a  ruby,  and  shouldst  thou  drop 
a  tear,  I  will  redeem  it  with  a  diamond,  and 
try  in  vain  to  match,  with  turquoise  or  lapis- 
lazuli  or  opal,  the  colour  of  thine  eyes.  Ah! 
come,  and  slaves  shall  serve  my  dainty  Queen 
with  food  on  golden  plates,  and  snow  cold 
drinks  in  crystal  cups,  and  when  thou  wilt, 
pour  music  in  thy  little  ear.  And  elephants 
shall  carry  thee  about,  or  thou  shall  ride  on 
horses,  or  float  on  silent  pools  starred  like  the 
sky  with  a  multitude  of  lotuses,  or  lie  on 
couches  softer  than  a  flower,  fanned  in  the 
heat  of  noon  with  scented  leaves,  or  listening 
at  midnight  to  the  moonstones,  oozing  as  they 
swing  in  the  window's  trellised  frames.  Ah! 
Blue-eyes,  come  and  be  my  Queen,  for  I  can- 
not do  without  thee,  and  all  that  I  have  said 
is  nothing,  for  it  is  only  the  casket  for  thy 
soul.     For  I  will  be  there,  and  serve  thee  all 


76  Love's  Lookino^-Glass 


day  long  upon  my  knees.  Ah !  I  will  take  thy 
soul,  and  steep  it  in  elixir,  and  drown  it  in  the 
perfume  and  the  fragrance  of  stories  and  of 
dreams,  and  dye  it  with  the  colour  strained 
from  the  subtle  essences  of  far-off  lakes  of 
passion  and  emotion,  lying  in  the  distant  land 
beyond  the  blue  horizon  where  the  earth  and 
heaven  meet.  Aye!  I  would  turn  the  three 
worlds  upside  down,  only  to  be  near  thee,  and 
watch  the  shadow  of  the  pleasures  I  would  find 
there  reflected  in  thine  eyes,  O  thou  naivest  and 
most  exquisite  of  queens. 

And  she  watched  him  as  he  spoke,  and  when 
he  stopped,  she  continued  to  look  at  him  in 
silence.  And  then  to  his  amazement,  she 
dropped  her  eyes,  and  the  colour  rose  a  very 
little  in  her  cheek,  that  was  overshadowed  by 
her  long  soft  lashes,  and  she  said:  Nay,  thou 
art  only  laughing  at  me,  knowing  my  inex- 
perience. And  as  thou  saidst,  thy  words  are 
only  bubbles,  beautiful,  and  bursting  as  they 
jostle  one  another,  and  delusive.  Nor  is  this 
the  kind  of  queen  that  I  would  be.  And  the 
King  said,  with  curiosity:  And  what  then,  O 


Bubbles  ^l 

maiden  difficult  to  please,  is  thy  conception  of 
a  queen?  And  she  waited  for  a  moment,  and 
she  said,  keeping  her  eyes  fixed  upon  the 
ground:  Once  my  father  told  me  of  a  queen 
very  different  from  thine.  And  I  cannot  tell 
thee  the  story  as  he  told  it,  for  I  am  not  a 
pundit^  as  is  he.  But  he  told  me  of  a  king, 
who  was  set  upon  by  enemies  and  driven  from 
his  throne.  And  when  all  the  world  aban- 
doned him,  a  single  friend  remained  to  him, 
and  that  one  was  his  queen:  who  followed  him 
in  exile,  and  lived  with  him  in  poverty,  and 
wandered  through  the  world  behind  him  like 
his  shadow,  enjoying  never  one  of  the  plea- 
sures thou  hast  mentioned,  but  sharing  all  his 
evil  fortune,  a  pleasure  infinitely  greater  than 
them  all.  And  when  he  died,  she  would  not 
stay  behind  him,  but  followed  him  through  the 
fire,  into  the  other  world. 


A  PAINTED  LADY 

And  the  King  listened  with  amazement,  and 
when  she  ended,  he  looked  at  her  with  eyes  that 
ghstened,  and  a  heart  that  swelled  towards  her 
as  she  sat  with  downcast  eyes,  as  if  ashamed 
of  her  words,  before  him  on  the  ground.  And 
he  struck  his  hands  together,  and  exclaimed  to 
himself:  Ha!  very  wonderful  is  the  way  of  the 
Creator,  who  teaches  all  his  creatures  the 
law  of  their  behaviour,  without  the  means 
of  any  master.  For  this  mud-born^  pure 
white  lotus  of  a  maiden  has  understood 
without  assistance  and  as  it  were  by  na- 
tive instinct,  the  whole  duty  of  a  faithful 
wife,    even    before    she    has    so    much    as 

■  This  single  word,  a  common  name  in  Sanskrit  for  the  lotus, 
possesses  an  incomparable,  moral  and  aesthetic,  mingled  beauty, 
which  can  only  be  poorly  rendered  in  English  by  five  words  in- 
stead of  one.  Mud-born  is  the  word :  but  the  meaning  it  covers 
is  the  pure  white  lotus  that  springs  out  of  the  thick  black  mire: 
just  as  the  brightest  rainbow  is  seen  against  the  darkest  cloud. 

78 


A  Painted  Lady  79 

seen  a  man.  And  then  he  said:  Sweet  Httle 
ascetic,  apt  pupil  of  a  wise  old  father,  whom 
thou  dost  resemble  not  only  in  thy  hair,  thou 
hast  administered  reproof  to  me,  deservedly. 
And  whereas  I  thought,  in  my  folly,  to  in- 
struct thee,  it  was  I  that  received  a  lesson,  in 
this  matter  of  the  way  of  queens.  And  now 
I  see,  that  I  spoke  more  truly  than  I  knew, 
when  I  said  that  thou  wert  admirably  fitted  to 
be  a  queen.  Now,  therefore,  thou  art  my 
guru,  and  I  am  thy  disciple,  and  thou  shalt 
teach  me  all  that  I  do  not  know.  Begin  then, 
my  pretty  little  guru:  give  me  lessons,  for  I 
need  them.  And  she  laughed,  and  blushed, 
and  said:  Again  thou  art  laughing  at  me:  for 
how  could  a  simple  forest  maiden  teach  any- 
thing to  one,  who  like  thyself,  had  lived  in 
cities,  and  mixed  with  other  men  and  women? 
And  the  King  said  quickly:  Ah!  dear  Blue- 
eyes,  just  for  that  very  reason  is  it  that  thou 
hast  already  taught  me  many  things  that  I 
never  knew  before.  For  they  who  live  in 
cities  have  their  souls  tainted  as  it  were  and 
poisoned  by  bad  associations,  whereas  thine 
is  as  pure  as  the  Covers  in  thy  hair.     And 


8o  Love's  Looking-Glass 

therefore,  as  thou  hast  taught  me  about  queens, 
teach  me  also  about  kings.  What  should  he 
be  like,  whom  thou  wouldst  be  willing  to  fol- 
low through  the  world? 

And  she  looked  at  him  for  a  moment,  and 
then  she  dropped  her  eyes,  and  turned  away 
her  head,  and  was  silent.  And  as  he  watched 
her,  the  King  saw  the  colour  rising  on  her 
neck,  till  it  reached  the  roots  of  her  dark  hair, 
like  the  flush  of  eve  climbing  the  snowy  sum- 
mit of  Himalaya,  when  day  is  dead.  And  he 
said  to  himself  in  ecstasy:  Ha!  so  this  pure 
digit  of  the  ice-cold  moon,  even  in  the  solitary 
darkness  of  the  night,  before  the  dawn  of  love, 
has  dreamed  of  a  sun  which  she  has  never  seen. 
And  O  that  I  could  dare  to  think  myself  the 
sunny  lover  corresponding  to  her  dream,  de- 
stined to  touch  her  soul,  as  my  question  did  her 
body,  into  red!  But  let  me  beware,  lest  I 
scare  my  timid  fawn  by  a  too  abrupt  approach. 
And  then  he  said :  Dear  little  blue-eyed  Queen, 
forgive  me,  if  I  roused  thy  maiden  shame  by  a 
rash  and  ill-mannered  curiosity.  It  is  enough 
for  me  to  know,  that  the  king  of  thy  pure 


A  Painted  Lady  8i 

fancy  must  be  worthy  of  his  queen:  and  as 
much  above  all  other  men,  as  thou  art  differ- 
ent and  above  all  other  women. 

And  then,  with  her  eyes  still  fixed  upon  the 
ground,  she  began  to  draw  upon  the  step  with 
her  foot.  And  she  said  softly:  And  in  what 
do  I  differ  from  all  other  women?  And  the 
King  said:  Blue-eyes,  ask  me  rather  in  what 
respect  thou  art  the  same.  For  thy  points  of 
difference  are  so  many,  that  it  would  take  long 
to  tell  them  all.  But  notwithstanding,  if  thou 
wilt,  I  will  try,  and  paint  thy  portrait  for  thee 
in  contrast  to  the  others,  and  hold  thy  image 
up  before  thee,  reflected  on  the  mirror  of  my 
soul.  And  she  said :  Try :  for  I  desire  to  learn 
how  I  differ  from  the  others.  Then  he  said: 
Look,  then,  at  me,  that  I  may  see  thee  before 
I  begin.  And  she  raised  her  eyes,  and  looked 
straight  at  him,  blushing  a  very  little,  and  then 
smiled,  and  looked  down,  and  waited  as  he 
spoke. 

Then  the  King  said:  Blue-eyes,  every  wo- 
man is  a  woman,  and  so  art  thou:  and  this  is 
what  thou  hast,  in  common  with  all  others  of 


82  Love's  Looking-Glass 

thy  sex.  And  yet,  in  every  special  property 
of  woman  thou  hast  something  of  thine  own, 
which  marks  thee  Hke  a  seal,  and  stamps  thee 
as  a  thing  distinct  and  pecuhar,  and  other  than 
them  all.  For  others  have  blue  eyes,  but 
thine  are  bluer,  and  other  lips  are  red,  but 
thine  are  redder,  and  other  brows  are  black, 
but  thine  is  blacker,  and  other  smiles  are  white, 
but  thine,  O  thine  is  like  a  snowflake  or  the 
petal  of  a  new  young  lotus  bud.  Dark,  dark 
is  hair,  but  thine  is  like  the  midnight,  and 
many  feet  are  small,  but  not  as  thine  are. 
And  O  thy  arms  are  softer  and  more  rounded, 
and  thy  waist  is  more  enticing,  and  the  two 
proud  swelling  sister  milky  foes  upon  thy 
breast,  more  erect  and  more  provoking:  and 
yet  thy  step  is  lighter  and  thy  walk  is  more 
bewitching  and  thy  voice's  murmur  sweeter 
and  thy  laughter  more  delicious  and  thy  soul 
fresher  and  more  frank  and  thy  heart  it  may 
be  harder  than  that  of  any  woman  that  I  have 
ever  seen.  ISIoreover,  all  others  of  thy  sex 
are  tame,  and  thou  art  wild.  Then  she  said: 
What  is  the  distinction,  for  I  do  not  under- 


A  Painted  Lady  83 

stand?  And  the  King  said:  Sweet,  I  cannot 
tell  thee:  and  yet  it  is  a  difference  far  greater 
than  all  the  others  put  together.  For  all 
things  that  are  tame  are,  as  it  were,  an  incar- 
nation and  embodiment  of  the  littleness  of 
men:  but  all  things  that  are  wild,  as  thou  art, 
are,  as  it  were,  a  portion  of  the  Deity.  For 
thy  behaviour  differs  from  that  of  other  wo- 
men, as  does  a  wild  vine  gadding  at  its  will 
from  the  trained  flowers  in  a  king's  garden, 
and  thy  great  blue  eyes  are  utterly  without 
hypocrisy,  and  resemble  those  of  a  falcon  or  a 
child.  And  thou  thyself  art  like  the  young 
beautiful  heifer  of  a  wild  white  bull.  And  I 
know  not  how  to  tell  thee  what  I  mean,  when 
I  say  that  thou  art  wild:  and  yet  it  is  just  this 
very  quality  in  thee  which  drives  me  to  dis- 
traction. But  see,  now,  the  evening  as  it 
falls,  and  the  water  of  the  great  river  flowing 
with  its  surface  unruffled  by  any  breath  of 
wind :  see,  how  the  cranes  here  and  there  upon 
the  brink  are  mirrored  in  its  water,  and  yonder 
pair  of  swans  are,  as  it  were,  echoed  by  an- 
other pair  that  swim  below  them  upside  down; 


84  Love's  Looking-Glass 

and  the  peacock  on  the  temple  wall  glitters  in 
the  last  rays  of  the  sun  with  emerald  and  blue 
and  gold :  now  thou  seemest,  as  it  were,  a  part 
of  it  all,  and  as  it  were  the  soul  of  all  this 
body,  and  like  a  jewel  in  its  proper  setting, 
and  at  one  with  all  the  creatures  of  the  wood. 
And  I  begin  to  fear,  lest  thou  shouldst  sud- 
denly plunge  into  the  water,  and  disappear, 
leaving  me  alone. 

And  as  he  spoke,  there  came  again  a  mur- 
mur and  a  rustle  in  the  air.  And  he  listened 
and  exclaimed  with  anxiety:  Ha!  what  is  that? 
Then  she  said:  It  is  only  the  beating  of  the 
wings  of  the  waterfowl  returning  to  their 
roost  for  the  night. 


VI 


SHADOWS 


And  the  King  drew  a  deep  breath,  hke  a 
man  saved  from  a  great  danger.  And  she 
saw  it,  and  said  to  him:  Thou  art  afraid.  Of 
what  art  thou  afraid?  And  the  King  said; 
Ah!  dear  Blue-eyes,  I  am  indeed  afraid,  but 
of  this  alone,  lest  something  should  occur  to 
cut  short  our  conversation.  And  shall  I  not 
be  afraid  of  death?  For  as  my  life  began 
with  the  commencement  of  our  converse,  so 
its  end  will  be  my  death.  And  like  a  miser, 
the  very  treasure  that  I  worship  fills  me  with 
despair,  because  the  fear  of  losing  it  mixes 
with  the  joy  of  its  possession,  and  I  start  at 
every  noise.  And  as  I  said  before,  more  than 
anything  I  fear  lest  thou  shouldst  suddenly 
escape  into  the  water.  And  I  am  sorely 
tempted  to  take  hold  of  thee,  and  tie  thee  like 
my  horse  to  the  tree,  to  prevent  thee  from 
escaping. 

85 


86  Love's  Looking-Glass 

Then  she  laughed  and  exclaimed:  There  is 
no  need:  for  I  have  no  desire  to  escape  from 
thee.  And  how  could  I  plunge  into  the  wa- 
ter, unless  I  were  a  fish?  Then  he  said:  Dear, 
did  thy  father  never  tell  thee  of  the  nymphs 
that  have  their  homes  beneath  the  water?  Or 
hast  thou  forgotten  what  he  said?  Or  is  it 
as  I  said,  that  thou  thyself  art  one  of  them, 
seeking  to  deceive  me?  And  she  said:  But 
what  should  lead  thee  to  believe  it?  And  he 
said:  Every  reason.  For  they  are  all  marvel- 
lously beautiful,  as  thou  art,  and  like  thee, 
they  suddenly  appear,  seated  by  pools  and 
streams,  and  lure  unhappy  travellers  like  me 
to  ruin  and  destruction.  Then  she  said:  And 
by  what  means  do  they  destroy  them?  And 
the  King  said:  Blue-eyes,  by  shomng  them- 
selves for  but  an  instant,  and  then  disappear- 
ing, never  to  return,  carrying  away  with  them 
the  hearts  of  their  miserable  victims,  and 
leaving  them  instead  inconsolable  regret,  and 
lovelorn  longing  for  the  beauty  whose  momen- 
tary vision  robbed  them  of  their  soul.  There- 
fore beware!  and  let  me  warn  thee,  that  once 


Shadows  87 

having  shown  thyself,  thou  art  absolutely 
bound  to  remain  with  me  for  ever:  otherwise 
I  shall  be  utterly  undone.  For  if  not,  thou 
wert  very  wrong  ever  to  have  shown  thyself  at 
all,  and  deservest  to  be  punished  as  a  deceiver 
and  a  Thag. 

Then  she  laughed,  with  laughter  that  was 
music  to  the  King's  ear.  And  she  said,  softly : 
But  this  is  very  hard:  for  how  can  those  poor 
water-women  help  it,  and  is  it  any  fault  of 
theirs  if  they  happen  to  be  seen  by  those  who 
happen  to  pass  by  and  are  not  blind?  Nor 
was  it  my  fault,  if  I  was  seen  by  thee:  rather 
was  it  thine,  for  coming  into  my  wood  upon 
thy  horse.  Then  the  King  said:  Blue-eyes,  I 
blame  thee  not  at  all,  always  provided  that 
thou  dost  not  jump  into  the  water,  or  leave 
me  in  any  other  way.  And  she  said:  But  is 
it  not  rather  I  that  have  to  be  afraid,  lest  thou 
shouldst  leave  me?  Is  it  my  sex  only  that 
deceives,  and  are  there  no  water-men,  as  well 
as  water- women?  And  the  King  said  eagerly: 
Ah!  dear  Blue-eyes,  and  would  it  be  a  grief  to 
thee,  if  I  should  go  away?     And  she  waited 


88  Love's  Looking-Glass 

a  little  while,  before  she  replied.  And  then 
she  said,  looking  at  him  with  playful  eyes: 
Didst  thou  not  say  thyself  that  this  world  was 
full  of  men?  And  if,  then,  one  has  come  into 
the  wood  to-day,  another  may  to-morrow. 
And  the  King  started,  and  he  looked  at  her 
with  rapture.  And  he  said  to  himself:  Ha! 
she  is  provoking  me,  and  ah!  she  is  delicious. 
Surely  the  very  elements  must  have  in  them 
the  nature  of  a  woman,  since  even  in  this  empty 
wood,  this  intoxicating  maiden  has  somehow 
or  other  managed  to  acquire  the  coquetry  of 
her  sex:  most  of  all  charming  there,  where  it 
was  least  to  be  expected.  And  then  he  said 
aloud:  Dear  Httle  daughter  of  an  Apsaras,  let 
thine  other  man  beware,  whoever  he  may  be :  for 
I  will  set  guards  about  the  wood,  like  a  ring, 
to  put  to  death  whoever  they  may  find. 

Then  she  looked  at  him  a  little  while,  and 
she  said:  See,  I  have  told  thee  all  I  have  to 
tell,  but  thou  hast  told  me  absolutely  nothing. 
Art  thou  then  a  king,  to  speak  of  placing 
guards  about  the  wood?  And  the  King  said 
to  himself:  Ha!  she  is  clever,  and  has  caught 


Shadows  89 

me  In  a  trap.  And  yet  I  will  not  tell  her  who 
I  am,  for  if  she  knew,  she  might  be  dazzled  by 
my  kingdom,  and  fall  in  love  with  that,  rather 
than  with  me.  And  he  said:  Surely,  as  we 
agreed  in  the  beginning,  if  thou  art  a  queen, 
I  must  be  a  king.  And  I  will  not  allow  any 
other  man  to  tamper  with  my  queen.  And  I 
am  of  good  caste,  and  a  Rajpoot,  and  not 
ashamed  of  my  family.  But  what  if  I  were 
in  very  truth  a  king,  and  banished:  wouldst 
thou  follow  me  through  the  world,  as  thou 
saidst?  And  she  laughed  and  said:  Nay,  but 
I  am  not  yet  thy  queen,  and  to  follow  thee  is 
not  my  duty,  but  that  of  thy  Queen  or  Queens. 
And  the  King  looked  at  her  narrowly,  and 
said  to  himself:  Is  she  speaking  at  random,  or 
can  it  be  that  she  is  curious,  or  jealous,  and 
anxious  to  discover  whether  she  has  a  rival? 
And  he  said:  Blue-eyes,  King  or  not,  this  is 
certain,  that  I  neither  have  nor  will  have  any 
queen  or  queens  whatever  but  thyself.  Nor 
have  I  ever  seen  any  woman  in  the  world,  till 
I  came  into  this  wood,  that  I  would  wish  to 
make  my  wife.     And  therefore  tell  me,  for  as 


90  Love's  Looking-Glass 

yet  thou  hast  not  answered:  if  I  were  a  king 
indeed,  wouldst  thou  come  away  and  be  my 
Queen? 

And  she  said:  I  am  of  good  family,  and  not 
independent  ^ ;  and  it  is  not  for  myself,  but  for 
my  father  to  dispose  of  me.  And  then,  the 
very  instant  she  had  spoken,  she  uttered  a 
sharp  cry,  and  started  to  her  feet,  and  stood. 
And  the  King  leaped  up  in  terror,  exclaiming : 
Alas,  what  is  the  matter?  For  he  thought  she 
had  been  bitten  by  a  snake.  But  he  looked 
and  saw  nothing.  And  he  drew  near  her,  and 
saw  that  she  was  deadly  pale,  and  drooping 
like  a  flower  left  without  water  in  the  heat  of 
noon.  And  he  said  again,  with  anxiety:  Ali- 
chumbita:  w^hat  is  it?  But  she  never  an- 
swered, but  stood  silent,  gazing  at  the  river,  as 
though  he  were  not  there. 

And  the  King  stood  just  beside  her,  look- 
ing at  her  with  affection  and  alarm.  And  now 
the  light  was  changing  into  darkness,  for  the 


>  No  woman  in  India,  even  in  a  fairy  tale,  is  ever  independent 
and  her  own  mistress,  unless  she  belongs  to  a  class  outside  the 
pale  of  moral  consideration. 


Shadows  91 

sun  had  sunk  behind  the  western  mountain, 
and  on  the  trees  across  the  river  the  disc  of 
the  full-moon  was  sitting  waiting  like  a  thief 
watching  the  lord  of  day  away  before  stealing 
silently  up  into  his  domain.  And  far  away 
down  the  river,  a  solitary  star  was  shining  in 
the  south,  below  in  the  black  water,  and  above 
in  the  dark  blue  sky,  over  which  great  bats 
were  flapping  noiselessly,  like  dusky  ghosts 
coming  by  night  to  haunt  the  spots  they  loved 
as  living  birds.  And  the  voices  of  the  forest 
day  had  died  away,  and  in  their  place  the  in- 
sects of  the  night  were  calling  to  one  another 
to  begin:  and  all  about  the  shadows  in  the 
trees  the  fireflies  were  flitting  in  and  out. 
And  the  King  heard  his  horse  whinnying  and 
pawing  on  the  ground,  impatient  at  being  tied 
so  long,  and  fretting  to  be  gone. 


VII 


TWILIGHT 


And  still  as  she  did  not  move,  at  last  the 
King  broke  silence.  And  he  said:  Dear,  I 
know  not  what  is  wrong,  but  I  would  give  my 
life,  to  save  thee  from  even  a  very  little  pain. 
And  now  the  day  is  done,  and  very  soon  it  will 
be  night.  Dost  thou  not  hear  the  horse,  call- 
ing, and  telling  me  it  is  time  to  be  away?  And 
yet  I  cannot  leave  thee,  if  I  would.  And  now 
again  I  ask  thee,  wilt  thou  not  come  away  with 
me  from  this  dark  wood,  and  live  and  play 
with  me  for  ever,  as  we  have  done  to-day? 
For  in  the  time  that  we  have  been  together, 
thou  hast  taken  absolute  possession  of  my 
soul,  and  filled  it  with  thyself,  leaving  no  other 
room  in  it,  so  that  everything  except  thee  is 
utterly  ousted  and  forgotten  and  obliterated. 
And  I  feel  as  if  I  had  known  thee,  not  for  an 
hour,  but  for  a  hundred  thousand  years:  and 
it  cannot  be  but  that  we  were  King  and  Queen 

92 


Twilight  93 

in  many  births  before,  and  destined  by  reason 
of  the  depth  of  our  devotion  to  meet  again  in 
this  one  also.  And  I  will  make  thy  life  all 
that  I  said,  and  more :  and  I  will  be  thy  father 
and  thy  mother  and  thy  other  self,  reflecting 
thee  as  in  a  mirror,  joyous  when  thou  art  joy- 
ous, and  sad  when  thou  art  sad.  And  if  thou 
dost  regret  to  leave  thy  father  and  the  wood, 
no  matter:  for  I  will  bring  thee  back  to  it, 
as  often  as  thou  wilt.  And  we  will  make  this 
little  temple  as  it  were  a  pleasure  arbour,  to 
last  us  till  we  die,  and  remind  me  for  ever  of 
the  moment  when  I  saw  thy  two  great  eyes, 
like  two  great  blue  lotus  flowers,  looking  at 
me,  out  of  the  magic  shadow  of  the  wood. 

And  then  all  at  once,  she  burst  into  a  pas- 
sion of  tears.  And  she  said  sobbing:  Now 
thou  must  go  away,  almost  as  soon  as  thou  art 
come.  Why  didst  thou  come  into  the  wood, 
only  to  destroy  me?  For  till  I  saw  thee,  I 
was  happy,  and  I  took  pleasure  in  the  river, 
and  the  flowers  and  the  trees:  but  now  they 
are  all  become  hateful  in  my  eyes.  For  I 
cannot  bear  to  let  thee  go,  and  be  without  thee : 


94  Love's  Looking-Glass 

and  yet  I  cannot  keep  thee,  or  go  with  thee 
from  the  wood.  And  the  King  said,  in  de- 
spair: Alas!  and  why  canst  thou  not  come 
away?  Then  she  said:  As  my  father  wishes 
me  to  marry,  so  I  must.  But  thy  coming  took 
me  by  surprise,  and  robbed  me  of  my  reason: 
and  lost  in  the  joy  of  thy  discovery,  and  watch- 
ing thee,  and  listening  to  thy  voice,  I  had  ut- 
terly forgotten  everything  but  thee;  and  I 
suddenly  remembered,  as  I  told  thee  of  my 
father,  all  about  it,  and  now  it  is  a  grief  to 
me  that  ever  I  saw  thee  in  the  wood.  And 
now  all  is  over,  and  everything  is  changed, 
and  thou  must  go  away  at  once,  and  leave  me 
to  forget,  if  I  can,  that  ever  I  have  seen  thee. 
For  I  cannot  disobey  my  father,  or  bring  dis- 
credit on  my  family,  by  having  anything  to 
do  with  thee:  for  I  am  intended  for  another. 
And  the  King  exclaimed:  Ah!  no!  it  cannot 
be.  Surely  thou  art  raving.  Or  who  can  it 
be,  for  whom  thou  art  preserved  by  thy  father, 
as  a  deposit  and  a  trust?  And  he  said  to 
himself:  Only  let  me  learn  who  it  is,  and  I  will 
find  him,  no  matter  who  and  where  he  is,  and 


Twilight  95 

rid  the  earth  of  him,  and  get  her  for  myself. 

Then  she  said :  Far  away  in  the  north,  on  the 
edge  of  the  wood,  there  is  a  King,  Rudralaka 
by  name;  and  one  day  he  will  come  into  the 
wood  and  claim  me  for  his  bride.  For  so  it 
was  revealed  to  my  father,  when  he  enquired 
of  my  mother,  long  ago,  to  whom  he  should 
give  me,  when  I  was  of  age.  And  my  mother 
went  to  Indra,  and  asked  him;  and  Indra 
asked  Maheshwara,  who  knows  the  present, 
the  future,  and  the  past.  And  how  can  he  be 
deceived,  or  how  can  that  which  he  foretold 
fail  to  come  to  pass  ?  And  now  I  see  very  well 
that  it  was  a  crime  in  me,  ever  to  have  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  thee:  and  in  the  madness 
produced  by  thy  appearance,  I  have  acted  in 
a  manner  unworthy  of  my  caste:  for  I  am  the 
promised  bride  of  another  man.  And  now 
there  is  nothing  but  for  thee  to  go  away  as 
quickly  as  thou  canst,  and  forget  that  ever 
thou  didst  see  me  in  the  wood. 

And  the  King  stood  still  behind  her  as  she 
spoke,  filled  with  amazement  and  relief.  And 
he  watched  her  weeping,  with  pride  and  de- 


96  Love's  Looking-Glass 

light;  and  he  said  to  himself:  Certainly  she  is 
of  good  family,  and  its  very  crest- jewel,  and 
like  a  diamond  of  pure  water;  for  she  will  not 
come  away  with  me,  but  is  faithful  to  her  duty, 
even  against  her  will.  But  once  again  I  will 
test  her,  like  gold  in  the  fire,  before  I  tell  her 
who  I  am.  But  what,  if  she  does  not  stand 
the  test?  Why,  then  I  will  forgive  her:  for 
how  could  I  blame  her  for  yielding  and  allow- 
ing herself  to  be  defeated  in  my  cause?  But 
if  she  stands  firm,  and  resists  me,  then  I  shall 
know  that  my  pearl  is  priceless,  and  my  emer- 
ald without  a  flaw. 

And  then  he  said  aloud :  Out  upon  this  Rud- 
ralaka,  for  he  is  like  a  cloud  that  has  suddenly 
intervened,  to  cast  a  dark  and  horrid  shadow 
over  our  sunny  garden  of  delight,  and  an  ob- 
stacle which  only  the  lord  of  obstacles  can 
move.  And  what  is  this  Rudralaka,  to  pre- 
vail over  the  lord  of  the  elephant  face  in  con- 
junction with  the  God  who  has  flowers  for  his 
bow?  ^     And  cannot  I  persuade  thee  to  forget, 

»  Ganesha  and  Kama,  the  gods  of  good  luck  and  love;  certainly 
two  formidable  antagonists. 


Twilight  97 

one  whom  thou  hast  never  even  seen,  and  who 
is  to  thee  nothing  but  a  name?  And  who 
knows  even  whether  he  exists  at  all,  and  is  not 
merely  a  dream  of  thy  father's,  an  illusion 
brought  into  his  aged  head  by  weakness  aris- 
ing from  severe  emaciation?  And  wilt  thou 
then  sacrifice  thy  happiness  and  mine  to  a 
dream?  And  he  waited  for  a  moment,  and  he 
said:  See,  thou  art  undecided,  wavering  be- 
tween thy  duty  and  my  love,  like  a  flower 
shaken  by  opposing  breezes.  A  flower  thou 
art,  and  a  flower  shall  decide  for  thee.  And 
this  red  lotus,  which  has  lingered  so  long  near 
thy  heart  that  it  must  know  it,  and  resembles 
it  in  colour,  shall  be  the  oracle  of  thy  destiny. 
And  he  leaned  over  her,  and  took  very  gently, 
without  touching  her,  the  lotus  on  her  breast, 
and  drew  it  away,  while  she  offered  no  resist- 
ance. And  he  said :  One  petal  is  for  thee,  and 
one  for  me.  Now  will  I  pluck  the  petals  one 
by  one,  first  for  thee,  and  second  for  myself. 
And  if  thine  is  the  last,  thou  shalt  stay,  and  I 
will  go  away  without  thee:  and  if  mine,  thou 
shall  cast  away  Rudralaka,  hke  the  stalk  when 


98  Love's  Looking-Glass 

it  is  stripped  of  the  leaves,  and  forget  him,  and 
come  with  me  and  be  my  wife. 

And  then,  one  by  one,  he  began  to  strip  the 
red  lotus  of  its  leaves,  and  let  them  fall  upon 
the  ground,  saying  as  he  did  so :  This,  for  thee : 
this,  for  me.  And  as  he  counted,  she  watched 
him,  with  tears  sparkling  in  her  eyes,  till  only 
one  remained.  And  he  held  it  out  towards 
her,  saying,  with  a  smile:  This,  for  me.  And 
then,  all  at  once  she  broke  into  a  laugh  that 
was  mingled  with  sobs  and  sorrow  and  indig- 
nation. And  she  exclaimed:  Ah!  thou  art 
cunning,  and  thou  art  very  cruel.  Thou 
knewest  very  well  that  there  were  but  sixteen 
petals  on  the  lotus,^  and  that  thine  must  be  the 
last.  And  thou  art  unkind,  prolonging  my 
torture,  and  striving,  by  unfairness,  and  temp- 
tation, to  recall  my  resolution:  j^et  if  I  did, 
thou  wouldst  only  think  the  worse  of  me,  even 
though  thine  would  be  the  gain.  Go,  go 
quickly,  for  I  may  not  come  away  with  thee. 
And  as  she  spoke,  she  turned  paler  than  the 

>  It  is  one  of  the  conventions  of  Hindoo  poetry  that  the  petals 
of  the  lotua  are  eight  or  sixteen  in  number. 


Twilight  99 

Kumuda  that  opens  in  the  dusk,  and  stag- 
gered. And  she  leaned  against  a  pillar  of 
the  tree,  and  her  eyes  shone  in  the  moonlight, 
and  she  said  very  quietly:  Go  now,  take  thy 
horse,  and  go  away;  and  go  very  quickly:  for 
the  decision  is  too  hard  for  me,  and  I  cannot 
bear  it  very  long.  And  it  would  be  a  stain  on 
thee,  to  tempt  any  longer  the  wife  of  another 
man. 

And  the  King  gazed  at  her,  struck  with 
admiration  and  amazement.  And  he  said  to 
himself :  Ha !  where  is  the  simple  forest  maiden 
who  sat  to  listen  at  my  feet,  for  in  her  place 
I  see  one  whose  virtue  I  have  roused,  and  who 
orders  me  to  go  with  the  dignity  of  an  insulted 
queen?  And  I  stand  before  her  like  a  cul- 
prit, rejoicing  inwardly  at  the  failure  of  my 
own  attempt.  And  as  he  stood,  lost  in  won- 
der at  her  moonlit  unearthly  beauty,  and 
ready  to  fall  and  worship  at  her  feet,  suddenly 
there  fell  upon  his  ear  a  murmur  and  a  rustle 
in  the  air.  And  he  listened,  and  all  at  once 
the  horse  began  to  neigh;  for  it  was  the 
trample  of  horses  and  the  thunder  of  their 


loo  Love's  Looking-Glass 

hoofs.  And  as  they  looked,  lol  a  band  of 
horsemen  issued  from  the  wood,  and  came  to- 
wards them;  and  in  a  moment  they  were  sur- 
rounded by  the  attendants  of  the  King. 


VIII 

QUINTESSENCE 

And  then,  with  a  cry,  Alichumbita  sprang 
back,  and  stood  in  dismay,  on  the  very  brink 
of  the  river,  looking  from  the  King  to  his 
followers  and  back  again.  And  the  King 
watched  her  with  ecstasy,  and  he  said  to  him- 
self:  Now  could  I  almost  forgive  my  attend- 
ants for  this  exasperating  interruption.  For 
she  looks  like  a  stag  whose  retreat  has  been  cut 
off  by  the  hunters,  standing  at  bay,  with 
every  graceful  limb  quivering  and  poised  on 
the  very  verge  of  instant  action,  striking  terror 
as  it  were  into  even  the  hearts  of  her  pursuers 
by  her  magnificent  defiance,  and  cowing  them 
by  the  startled  pride  of  her  haughty  and  yet 
timid  eyes,  and  holding  them  as  it  were  spell- 
bound by  the  beautiful  agitation  incarnate  in 
her  form,  and  reaching  its  supreme  expression 
in  the  deep  heave  of  her  glorious  bosom.     And 

lOI 


I02  Love's  Looking-Glass 

I  can  see  that  my  followers  are  divided  in 
their  minds :  for  all  their  respect  for  me  cannot 
prevent  them  from  transferring  their  allegi- 
ance to  her,  and  doing  homage  to  the  true 
deity  manifest  in  her  lovely  shape.  Hal 
beauty  is  the  real  ruler  of  the  three  worlds,  and 
all  others  are  usurpers  and  pretenders  and 
emptiness  and  show.  For  if  I  were  unknown 
to  them,  my  followers  would  pay  me  no  re- 
gard at  all:  whereas  they  have  all  become 
slaves  to  my  mistress,  as  I  did  myself,  by  a 
single  glance  at  her  goddess  mien. 

And  then,  as  his  attendants  dismounted 
from  their  horses,  and  stood  before  him  in 
attitudes  of  respect,  the  King  called  to  his 
chief  huntsman.  And  he  said  to  him:  Tell 
this  lady  who  they  are  that  stand  before  her. 
Then  that  huntsman  said  with  deference: 
Lady,  we  are  a  very  few  of  the  devoted  follow- 
ers of  King  Rudralaka:  and  having  hunted 
for  him  all  day  long,  we  pray  now  to  be  for- 
given, if  we  have  succeeded  at  last  in  finding 
him  only  to  be  troublesome  by  our  intrusion. 
And   the    King   said:    Now   go,   taking   my 


Quintessence  103 

horse;  and  wait  for  me  a  little  way  off,  yet 
not  beyond  a  call.  Then  those  huntsmen  all 
retired,  stealing  glances  as  they  went  at  the 
King's  companion,  and  vanished  again  within 
the  wood. 

And  when  they  were  gone,  the  King  stood 
awhile  in  silence,  gazing  with  affection  at 
Alichumbita,  who  was  lost  in  confusion  and 
astonishment.  And  then  he  said:  Blue-eyes, 
now  thou  hast  heard.  And  will  thou  now  do 
thy  duty,  and  obey  thy  father,  and  justify  the 
Great  God's  foresight,  and  come  away  with  thy 
true  husband  and  be  his  Queen?  Or  hast 
thou  still  a  horror  of  King  Rudralaka?  Ah! 
forgive  me  for  tr3dng  thee,  a  thing  which  I 
cannot,  nevertheless,  regret.  For  thou  wert 
proof  against  my  bribes,  and  hast  doubled  the 
worth  of  thy  wondrous  beauty  by  exhibiting 
the  quality  of  its  inner  soul.  And  she  stood 
for  a  moment,  changing  colour,  first  red,  and 
then  white,  as  if  the  blood  which  had  mantled 
in  her  face  had  like  those  huntsmen  withdrawn 
again  into  the  wood  of  her  heart  from  modesty 
at  the  sight  of  him.     And  as  he  took  her  by 


I04  Love's  Looking-Glass 

the  hand,  she  hid  her  face  against  his  breast, 
laughing  as  she  wept,  and  raining  as  it  were 
nectar  with  her  tears  into  the  heart  of  the 
King.  So  they  stood  together  in  the  silence, 
while  the  King  stroked  her  dark  hair  gently 
with  his  left  hand.  And  at  last  he  said :  Sweet 
little  Queen,  thou  hast  seen  men  enough  now, 
for  one  day.  Know,  that  they  are  all  thy  ser- 
vants, from  the  King  down. 

And  suddenly,  she  raised  her  face,  and 
looked  at  him  with  eyes  that  were  full  of  smiles 
and  tears  and  shyness  and  playfulness  and  blue 
colour  and  the  tremble  of  the  moon.  And  she 
said:  Canst  thou  tell  of  what  I  thought,  as  I 
looked  upon  all  those  men?  And  he  said:  Of 
what?  Then  she  said:  They  seemed  to  me  to 
be  worthy  only  to  be  servants  to  such  as  thee: 
and  I  saw  that  it  was  as  I  had  thought,  and 
that  mine  was  a  man  even  among  men.  And 
then  she  stopped,  and  she  said  again  in  a  low 
voice:  Now,  if  thou  wilt,  I  wilt  give  thee  an 
answer  to  that  question  of  thine  which  I  left 
unanswered.  And  the  King  said:  Which? 
And  she  said:  Dost  thou  not  remember?  Thou 


Quintessence  105 

didst  ask  me,  what  was  he  like  whom  I  would 
follow  through  the  world.  Now  canst  thou 
guess,  or  shall  I  tell  thee?  And  the  King 
leaned  over  her,  bending  her  a  little  back  as 
she  lay  in  his  strong  arms,  and  as  she  closed 
her  eyes,  he  kissed  her  trembling  lips,  which 
shrank  a  little  from  the  touch  of  his  own.  And 
after  a  while,  he  looked,  and  saw  heaven  re- 
flected in  the  eyes  of  his  wife  beneath  him,  and 
beyond  them,  their  two  shadows,  clinging  to- 
gether, black  on  the  moonlit  ground.  And 
suddenly  he  pointed,  and  said  to  her :  See,  thy 
wish  is  gratified,  and  thy  shadow  has  come  to 
life.  And  she  put  both  her  arms  round  his 
neck,  and  drew  him  down,  and  kissed  him 
again.  And  she  said:  It  is  not  my  shadow, 
but  it  is  I  myself  that  have  come  to  life,  and 
thou  art  the  life  that  has  come  to  me.  And 
hadst  thou  gone  away  without  me,  I  should 
not  be  living  now:  for  I  would  have  thrown 
myself  into  the  river,  the  moment  I  was  alone. 
And  the  King  said,  with  a  smile:  Did  I  not 
tell  thee,  that  I  feared  lest  thou  shouldst 
plunge  into  the  river?     And  she  laughed,  and 


io6  Love's  Looking-Glass 

said:  Let  me  go,  and  see.  And  they  looked 
at  each  other  for  a  moment,  and  laughed  with- 
out a  reason.  And  they  embraced  each  other 
passionately,  and  the  King  said :  Give  me  now 
another  kiss.  So  she  did.  And  he  said :  Now 
another,  and  another.  And  so  they  continued, 
she  giving  and  he  receiving;  while  the  night 
passed  away. 

And  at  last  he  said:  Now  I  must  carry  my 
property  away  with  me,  for  thou  art  no  longer 
thy  father's  but  mine.  And  we  will  come 
again,  and  tell  thy  father,  but  in  the  meantime, 
I  will  take  thee,  for  never  will  I  part  from 
thee  again.  And  she  said:  Do  with  me  as 
thou  wilt:  so  only  that  thou  dost  not  leave  me. 
Then  he  said:  Blue-eyes,  thou  hast  seen  a 
horse  to-day  for  the  first  time,  and  now  thou 
shalt  ride  one  also.  And  she  said  with  a 
smile:  But  how  can  I  ride  without  falling? 
Then  he  said :  Fear  nothing.  Dost  thou  think 
that  I  would  trust  my  treasure  on  a  horse 
alone?  But  that  good  horse,  which  brought 
into  the  wood  to-day  a  single  rider,  shall  carry 
back  a  pair.     And  he  has  run  a  race  to-day 


Quintessence  107 

that  will  have  robbed  him  of  his  fire.  Wait, 
now,  there,  for  a  little  while,  till  I  return:  and 
beware!  that  thou  dost  not  jump  into  the  wa- 
ter. And  as  she  smiled,  they  kissed  each  other 
again  with  insatiable  lips.  And  then  he  went 
towards  the  wood,  and  shouted  for  his  men. 
And  when  they  came,  he  gave  them  orders, 
and  they  brought  his  horse,  and  prepared  him 
as  he  said,  placing  for  her  reception  soft 
rugs  upon  his  back.  And  the  King  mounted, 
and  he  said:  Watch  me  when  I  go,  and 
follow  me  at  a  distance.  And  then  he  rode 
back  to  where  she  waited  for  him  by  the  river 
bank. 

Then  he  came  close  up  to  her  and  said: 
Give  me  now  thy  left  hand,  and  place  thy  little 
foot  on  mine,  and  I  will  lift  thee  up  before 
me.  So  she  stretched  out  to  him  her  hand, 
shrinking  from  the  horse  as  it  tossed  its  head 
and  trampled  the  ground,  and  seeking  with 
timidity  for  an  opportunity  to  place  her  foot 
upon  his  own.  So  as  she  waited,  gazing  at 
the  horse  with  doubtful  eyes,  the  King 
laughed.      And  he  exclaimed:  This  way  will 


io8  Love's  Looking-Glass 

not  do,  and  now  I  must  make  another.  And 
suddenly,  he  turned  the  horse  towards  her  with 
his  knee,  and  letting  fall  the  reins,  he  leaned 
from  the  saddle  and  caught  her  in  his  arms, 
and  lifted  her  up  before  him.  And  at  that 
moment  the  horse  started  off,  and  the  King 
felt  for  the  reins  with  his  left  hand,  holding 
her  in  his  right  arm,  while  she  clung  to  his 
neck  for  fear  of  falling.  And  for  a  while 
the  King  let  the  horse  go,  for  the  sweet- 
ness of  her  terrified  embrace  was  such  that  he 
said  to  himself:  Ah!  could  this  only  last  for 
ever !  , 

Then  after  a  while,  he  checked  the  horse, 
and  brought  him  to  a  walk.  And  as  they 
went  slowly  through  the  forest,  now  in  the 
shadow  and  now  in  the  moonlit  glades,  he  let 
the  reins  fall  on  his  horse's  neck,  and  took  his 
wife  in  both  his  arms,  kissing  her  lips  that 
kissed  him  again,  and  murmuring  inarticu- 
lately words  without  a  meaning,  and  filling 
his  soul  to  the  very  brim  with  the  intoxication 
of  her  shadowy  eyes  and  the  perfume  of  her 
hair  that  hung  about  her  escaping  from  its 


Quintessence  109 

l^not.  And  suddenly,  there  came  as  it  were 
night  over  his  eyes.  And  he  felt  her  slipping 
from  his  embrace,  which  closed  in  vain  on 
empty  air.  And  before  him  her  face  wavered 
and  flickered,  and  it  lit  up  like  a  dying  lamp 
for  a  single  instant  with  vivid  brightness,  and 
then  went  out  and  disappeared. 


IX 


ECHOES  AND  REGRETS 

And  in  an  instant,  he  saw  before  him,  no 
wood  and  no  horse.  But  he  found  liimself 
floating  as  at  first  Hke  a  cloud  in  the  blue  sky, 
with  his  wife  still  in  his  arms.  And  he  said: 
Ha!  how  is  this?  I  lost  thee  but  now  in  the 
forest,  and  here  we  are  together  in  the  sky. 
But  I  seem  to  have  but  just  awoken  from  a 
dream.  And  wert  thou  then  with  me  in  my 
dream?  Then  she  said:  Yes.  And  as  she 
spoke,  she  caught  him  in  a  convulsive  grasp, 
for  she  knew  that  the  end  was  come.  And  as 
she  gazed  at  him  with  agony  in  her  eyes,  he 
said:  Ah!  dost  thou  remember  how  we  rode 
together,  and  lingered  as  I  brought  thee  home, 
in  that  delicious  wood?  Dost  thou  remember 
how  we  laughed,  and  how  we  wept  for  joy? 
Dost  thou  remember  how  at  last  thou  didst  fall 

no 


Echoes  and  Regrets  m 

asleep  from  sheer  fatigue,  and  I  carried  thee 
sleeping  home?  Dost  thou  remember  how  I 
sat  and  watched  thee  in  thy  sleep,  and  how  at 
thine  awakening  thou  wast  frightened,  for- 
getting where  thou  wert?  Dost  thou  remem- 
ber, how  everything  was  new  to  thee,  and 
strange,  and  how  all  day  long  I  laughed  for 
joy  to  see  thee,  my  plaything  and  my  pretty 
child?  Dost  thou  remember  how  we  played 
at  King  and  Queen,  counting  the  whole  world 
as  a  straw,  and  never  parting,  night  or  day? 
Dost  thou  remember  how  thou  wast  by  day, 
the  sun,  and  by  night,  the  moon,  of  all  the 
hours,  lighting  up  my  gloomy  palace  with  the 
blaze  of  thy  beauty  and  the  soft  hght  of  thy 
love?  Dost  thou  remember  how  thy  voice 
echoed  in  my  empty  halls,  and  thy  laughter 
filled  up  all  its  corners  with  music  and  dehght? 
Dost  thou  remember  how  I  used  to  follow  thee 
about  from  room  to  room,  and  how  sometimes, 
rogue !  thou  wouldst  hide  from  me,  to  drive  me 
to  despair?  Dost  thou  remember  that  last 
night,  when  I  parted  from  thee  to  go  to  war, 
leaving  my  soul  behind?     But  ah!  alas!  for 


112  Love's  Looking-Glass 

the  day,  when  I  rode  like  a  whirlwind  into 
the  court,  and  they  told  me  of  thy  death! 

And  as  he  spoke,  there  shot  through  his 
heart  a  mortal  pang  like  a  sharp  sword.  And 
at  that  instant,  his  wife  vanished,  and  he  felt 
himself  falling,  falling  like  a  heavy  stone,  down 
through  empty  space.  And  he  uttered  a  fear- 
ful cry,  for  he  understood  that  he  was  return- 
ing swiftly  back  to  earth.  And  struggling 
with  vain  and  frenzied  grief  and  rage,  he 
screamed  aloud,  in  the  ecstasy  of  despair :  Ah ! 
my  wife!  my  wife!  Ah!  not  to  earth!  ah!  not 
again!  not  without  thee!  not  without  thee! 


Epilogue 
The  Break  of  a  Heart 


113 


Epilog 


ue 


But  in  the  meanwhile,  the  King's  attend- 
ants sat  on  in  the  palace  hall,  waiting  while  the 
King  slept.  And  he  slept  on,  while  they 
waited,  and  they  watched  him  lying  very  still, 
on  his  couch  upon  the  floor. 

So  as  they  watched  and  waited,  the  day 
slowly  passed  away.  And  hour  succeeded 
hour,  as  the  sun  moved  steadily  on  to  his  home 
behind  the  western  hill.  And  all  the  while,  the 
old  merchant  remained  motionless  in  his  place, 
stiller  even  than  the  sleeping  King,  for  he 
never  even  breathed.  So  they  watched  and 
waited  on,  till  for  very  weakness  their  souls 
were  almost  parting  from  their  bodies,  and 
slumber  began  to  steal  over  their  eyes.  And 
day  began  to  turn  to  twilight,  and  the  dark- 
ness began  as  it  were  to  gather  and  creep  out 
of  the  corners  of  the  room,  in  which  was  heard 

115 


ii6  Epilogue 

no  sound,  save  the  deep  breathing  of  the 
sleeping  King. 

And  suddenly,  like  a  flash  of  lightning, 
there  rang  through  that  silent  room  a  cry, 
that  pierced  those  weary  watchers'  ears  like 
the  point  of  a  molten  spear;  for  it  resembled 
the  cry  of  a  woman,  forced  by  the  agony  of 
abject  fear  into  the  very  mouth  of  death.  And 
as  they  bounded  to  their  feet,  and  looked  to- 
wards the  King,  there  burst  from  his  heart 
another  cry,  and  yet  another.  And  they  saw 
his  body,  like  a  worm,  writhing  and  quivering 
as  it  lay;  and  all  at  once  he  leaped  from  the 
couch  and  stood  erect,  and  staggered  across 
the  floor. 

And  he  stood  there,  swaying  like  a  reed, 
and  gazing  straight  before  him,  seeing  no- 
thing, with  open  eyes,  that  were  dazed  with  the 
depth  of  their  own  despair.  And  every  limb 
of  his  body  shook,  and  drops  of  sweat  stood 
on  his  brow,  and  his  breath  came  hard  and  fast 
and  hoarse,  from  a  chest  that  heaved  and 
trembled  like  the  bosom  of  a  frightened  girl. 
So  he  stood,  while  they  all  watched  him,  silent 


The  Break  of  a  Heart  117 

and  aghast,  and  listening  as  it  were  to  the 
beating  of  their  own  hearts. 

So  as  they  watched  him,  holding  their 
breath,  he  began  to  wail  like  a  child.  And  he 
wept  aloud,  with  great  sobs,  that  shook  him 
from  head  to  foot,  till  the  tears  rose  and  stood 
in  the  eyes  of  all  that  saw  him,  as  if  drawn 
from  their  sources  by  the  sight  of  his  own, 
which  fell  on  the  ground  like  rain.  And  all  at 
once,  he  stopped  short.  And  he  looked  up, 
and  stared  before  him,  with  weeping  and  im- 
ploring eyes,  that  hunted  as  it  were  among 
them  for  something  they  could  not  find. 

And  as  they  watched  him  silently,  spell- 
bound by  those  troubled  eyes,  they  saw  their 
expression  alter,  and  over  them  pass  a  dread- 
ful change,  till  like  a  fire  they  shone  with  scorn 
and  hatred  and  disdain.  And  he  stepped  for- 
ward, and  spat  at  them  all  as  they  stood  before 
him,  stretching  out  both  his  arms.  And  as 
he  did  so,  his  gaze  was  as  it  were  caught  by 
the  glitter  of  the  glancing  gems  that  hung 
upon  his  wrists.  And  he  looked  at  them  for 
a  moment,  and  suddenly  he  took  those  jewels 


ii8  Epilogue 

and  tore  them  from  his  hands  and  arms,  and 
from  his  neck  and  breast.  And  he  broke  them 
all  to  pieces,  snapping  asunder  cords  and 
chains,  and  tossed  all  over  the  palace  hall 
pearls  and  rubies  and  all  the  rest,  till  they  rat- 
tled on  the  floor  like  hail.  And  when  he  had 
no  more  jewels  to  tear,  he  fell  upon  his  clothes; 
and  he  stripped  them  off  him  with  giant 
strength,  and  rent  them  into  bits  and  shreds, 
till  he  stood  before  them  breathing  hard,  drip- 
ping with  sweat,  and  bleeding,  as  naked  as  he 
was  born. 

And  as  his  eyes  ran  over  them  all  as  they 
shrank  before  him,  they  fell  suddenly  upon  the 
old  merchant,  who  sat  still  in  the  self-same 
place,  never  having  stirred.  So  when  the 
King  saw  him,  suddenly  he  began  to  laugh, 
with  laughter  that  was  divided  from  sobbing 
by  only  a  single  hair.  And  he  exclaimed :  Ha ! 
old  vendor,  art  thou  there,  waiting  for  thy 
price?  For  now  my  dream  is  over,  and  it 
only  remains  to  pay.  Take  for  thy  dream, 
my  whole  kingdom,  and  all  that  it  contains. 
And  even  so,  thou  art  unpaid:  for  such  a 


The  Break  of  a  Heart  119 

dream  could  not  be  ransomed,  even  by  the  three 
great  worlds. 

And  then,  with  anguish  in  his  eyes,  he  threw 
his  arms  to  heaven.  And  he  uttered  a  long 
low  cry,  like  the  howl  of  a  dog  whose  lord  is 
dead,  and  turned,  and  ran  out  of  the  hall. 

And  they  stood,  like  pictures  on  a  wall, 
while  the  sound  of  his  disappearing  steps  died 
away  upon  their  ears.  And  then  in  an  in- 
stant, the  hall  was  filled  with  tumult.  But  the 
King's  physician  rushed  forward.  And  he 
exclaimed :  The  King's  frenzy  has  come  again, 
and  much  I  fear,  that  it  will  never  again  de- 
part. But  as  for  this  old  merchant,  who  has 
given  the  King  a  deadly  drug,  let  him  not  es- 
cape. Seize  him,  and  let  him  answer  for  the 
madness  of  the  King. 

Then  the  guards  surrounded  that  old  mer- 
chant, but  he  never  moved  or  stirred.  And 
suddenly,  seized  with  anger,  the  captain  of 
the  guards  stooped  down,  and  seized  him  by 
the  beard,  to  drag  him  roughly  to  his  feet. 
And  lo !  that  old  man's  head  came  off  his  neck, 
and  hung  by  the  beard  in  his  hand.     And  they 


I20  Epilogue 

looked,  and  saw,  that  the  body  was  hollow,  and 
empty,  and  without  a  soul,  like  the  trunk  of  a 
withered  tree. 

Then  they  gazed  at  one  another,  with  open 
mouths,  and  eyes  that  were  dull  with  fear. 
And  after  a  while,  the  chaplain  spoke.  And 
he  said  slowly:  Surely  this  was  an  old  Rak- 
shasa,  playing  with  the  King's  life.  Or  who 
knows?  For  it  may  be,  the  Deity  took  this 
form,  to  punish  the  King,  by  means  of  a 
dream,  for  the  sins  of  a  former  birth. 


An 
Essence  of  the  Dusk 

Translated  from  the  Original  Manuscript 

Love  turns  venom,  now  I  see^ 
Flouted  Beauties  vipers  be 


IK 


OOPTRIGHT,    1906 
BY 

F.  W.  BAIN 


Dedicated 

to  the 

Other  Sex 


183 


Preface 

More  generally  known,  perhaps,  than  any- 
other  Hindoo  legend,  is  the  story  of  the  demon, 
Rahu,  who  brings  about  Eclipses,  by  de- 
vouring the  Sun  and  Moon.  For  when  the 
gods  had  upchurned  the  nectar,  the  delectable 
Butter  of  the  Brine,  Rahu's  mouth  watered  at 
the  very  sight  of  it:  and  "in  the  guise  of  a 
god "  he  mingled  unperceived  among  them, 
to  partake.  But  the  Sun  and  Moon,  the 
watchful  Eyes  of  Night  and  Day,  detected 
him,  and  told  Wishnu,  who  cast  at  him  his 
discus,  and  cut  his  body  from  his  head:  but 
not  until  the  nectar  was  on  the  way  down  his 
throat.  Hence,  though  the  body  died,  the 
head  became  immortal :  and  ever  since,  a  thing 
unique,  "  no  body  and  all  head,"  a  byword 
among  philosophers,  he  takes  revenge  on  Sun 

and  Moon,  the  great  Taletellers,  by  "  grip- 

125 


126  Preface 

ping  "  them  in  his  horrid  jaws,  and  holding  on, 
till  he  is  tired,  or  can  be  persuaded  to  let  go. 
Hence,  in  some  parts  of  India,  the  doleful 
shout  of  the  country  people  at  eclipses:  Chor 
do!  chor  do!  ^  and  hence,  also,  the  primary  and 
surface  meaning  of  our  title:  A  Digit  of  the 
Moon  in  the  Demon's  grip:  in  plain  English, 
an  eclipse  of  the  moon.  And  yet,  legend 
though  it  be,  there  is  something  in  the  old 
mythological  way  of  putting  the  case,  which 
describes  the  situation  in  eclipses  far  better 
than  our  arid  scientific  prose.  I  shall  not 
easily  forget,  how,  as  we  sHd  Hke  ghosts  at 
midnight,  through  the  middle  of  the  desert, 
along  the  Suez  Canal,^  I  watched  the  ghastly 
pallor  of  the  wan  unhappy  moon,  as  the  hor- 
rible shadow  crept  slowly  over  her  face,  steal- 
ing away  her  beauty,  and  turning  the  lone  and 
level  sands  that  stretched  away  below  to  a 
weird  and  ashy  blue,  as  though  covering  the 

5  Let  go  !    Let  go ! 

1  Though  nothing  can  be  less  romantic  than  a  canal,  gliding 
through  that  of  Suez  is  a  strange  experience  at  night.  Your 
great  ship  seems  to  move,  swift  and  noiseless,  through  the  very 
tand  :  and  if  only  you  could  get  there  without  knowing  where 
you  were,  you  would  think  that  you  were  dreaming. 


Preface  127 

earth  with  a  sepulchral  sympathetic  pall.  For 
we  caught  the  "  griesly  terror,"  Rahu,  at  his 
horrid  work,  towards  the  end  of  May,  four 
years  ago. 

But  our  title  has  yet  another  meaning  un- 
derneath the  first,  for  Ahi^  the  name  employed 
for  Rahu  (like  all  other  figures  in  Indian 
mythology,  he  is  known  by  many  names),  also 
means  a  snake.  Beauty  persecuted  by  a 
snake  is  the  subject  of  the  story.  That  story 
will  presently  explain  itself:  but  the  relation 
between  Rahu,  or  eclipses,  and  a  snake  is  so 
curiously  illustrated  by  a  little  insignificant 
occurrence  that  happened  to  myself,  that  the 
reader  will  doubtless  forgive  me  for  making 
him  acquainted  with  it. 

Being  at  Delhi,  not  many  years  ago,  I  seized 
the  opportunity  to  visit  the  Kutub  Minar. 
There  was  famine  in  the  land.  At  every  sta- 
tion I  had  passed  upon  the  way  were  piled  the 
hides  of  bullocks,  and  from  the  train  you  might 
see  their  skeletons  lying,  each  one  bleaching 
where  it  died  for  want  of  fodder,  scattered 
here  and  there  on  the  brown  and  burning 


128  Preface 

earth;  for  even  every  river  bed  was  waterless, 
and  not  a  single  blade  of  green  could  you 
descry,  for  many  hundred  miles.  And  hence 
it  came  about,  that  as  I  gazed  upon  the  two 
emaciated  hacks  that  were  to  pull  me  from  the 
station,  a  dozen  miles  out,  and  as  many  more 
back,  I  could  bring  myself  to  sit  behind  them 
only  by  the  thought  that  thereby  I  should 
save  them  from  a  load  far  greater  than  my 
own,  that  would  have  been  their  fate  on  my 
refusal.  Therefore  we  started,  and  did  ul- 
timately arrive,  in  the  very  blaze  of  noon. 

The  Kutub  Minar  is  a  needle  of  red  stone, 
that  rises  from  a  plain  as  flat  as  paper  to  a 
height  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet;  and  you 
might  compare  it,  as  you  catch,  approaching, 
glimpses  of  it  at  a  distance,  to  a  colossal  chim- 
ney, a  Pharos,  or  an  Efreet  of  the  Jinn.  The 
last  would  be  the  best.  For  nothing  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth  can  parallel  the  scene  of 
desolation  which  unrolls  itself  below,  if  you 
climb  its  380  steps  and  look  out  from  the  dizzy 
verge:  a  thing  that  will  test  both  the  muscle 
of  your   knees   and   the   steadiness   of  your 


Preface  129 

nerves.  Round  you  is  empty  space:  look 
down,  the  pillar  bends  and  totters,  and  you 
seem  to  rock  in  air;  you  shudder,  you  are  fall- 
ing: and  away,  away  below,  far  as  the  eye 
can  carry,  you  see  the  dusty  plain,  studded 
with  a  thousand  tombs  and  relics  of  forgotten 
kings.  There  is  the  grim  old  fortress  of  the 
Toghlaks:  there  is  the  singular  observatory  of 
the  raja  astronomer,  Jaya  Singh:  and  there 
the  tomb,  Humaioon's  tomb,  before  which 
Hodson,  Hodson  the  brave,  Hodson  the  slan- 
dered, Hodson  the  unforgotten,  sat,  for  two 
long  hours,  still,  as  if  man  and  horse  were 
carved  in  stone,  with  the  hostile  crowd  that 
loathed  and  feared  him  tossing  and  seething 
and  surging  round  him,  waiting  for  the  last 
Mogul  to  come  out  and  be  led  away.  The  air 
is  thick,  and  sparkles  with  blinding  dust  and 
glare,  and  the  wind  whistles  in  your  ears. 
Over  the  bones  of  dynasties,  the  hot  wind  wails 
and  sobs  and  moans.  Aye !  if  a  man  seeks  for 
melancholy,  I  will  tell  him  where  to  find  it — 
at  the  top  of  the  old  Kutub  Minar. 

And  then,  that  happened  which  I  had  fore- 


I30  Preface 

seen.  We  had  not  gone  a  mile  upon  our 
homeward  way,  when  one  of  the  horses  fell. 
Therefore,  disregarding  the  asseverations  of 
my  rascally  Jehu  that  the  remaining  animal 
was  fully  equal  to  the  task  alone,  I  descended, 
and  proceeded  on  foot.  But  a  ten-mile  walk 
on  the  Delhi  plain  in  the  hottest  part  of  the 
day  is  not  a  thing  to  be  recommended.  After 
plodding  on  for  about  two  hours,  I  was,  like 
Langland,  "  wery  forwandred,"  and  went  me 
to  rest,  not  alas!  by  a  burnside,  but  in  the 
shadow  of  one  of  the  innumerable  little  tombs 
that  stand  along  the  dusty  road.  There  I  lay 
down  and  fell  asleep. 

Nothing  induces  slumber  like  exertion  un- 
der an  Indian  sun.  When  I  awoke,  that  sun 
was  setting.  A  little  way  before  me,  the  yel- 
low walls  of  Delhi  were  bathed  in  a  ruddy 
glow;  the  minarets  of  the  Great  Mosque  stood 
out  sharp  against  the  clear  unspotted  amber 
sky.  And  as  I  watched  them,  I  suddenly  be- 
came aware  that  I  was  myself  observed  with 
interest  by  a  dusky  individual,  who  was 
squatted  just  in  front  of  me,  and  who  rose. 


Preface  131 

salaaming,  when  he  saw  that  I  was  awake.  It 
appeared  that  I  had,  so  to  say,  fallen  into  a 
"  nest  of  vipers  " ;  that  I  had  unwittingly  in- 
vaded the  premises  of  a  snake  dealer,  who,  no 
doubt  for  solid  reasons,  had  made  my  friendly 
tomb  the  temporary  repository  of  his  stock- 
in-trade. 

The  Indian  snake  charmer,  gdruda,  hawa- 
diga/  or  whatever  else  they  call  him,  is  as  a 
rule  but  a  poor  impostor.  He  goes  about 
with  one  fangless  cobra,  one  rock  snake,  and 
one  miserable  mongoose,  strangling  at  the  end 
of  a  string.  My  dweller  in  tombs  was  richer 
than  all  his  tribe  in  his  snakes,  and  in  his  eyes. 
I  have  never  seen  anybody  else  with  real  cat's 
eyes:  eyes  with  exactly  that  greenish  yellow 
luminous  glare  which  you  see  when  you  look 
at  a  cat  in  the  dark.  They  gleamed  and  rolled 
in  the  evening  sun,  over  a  row  of  shining  teeth, 
as  their  owner  squatted  down  before  me,  lib- 
erating one  after  another  from  little  bags  and 
baskets  an  amazing  multitude  of  snakes,  which 
he  fetched  in  batches  from  the  interior  of  the 

» Hdwa,  in  Canarese,  is  the  name  of  Edhu. 


132  Preface 

tomb,  till  the  very  ground  seemed  alive  with 
them.^  Some  of  them  he  handled  only  with 
the  greatest  respect,  and  by  means  of  an  iron 
prong.  Outside  the  Zoo  (where  they  lose  in 
effect)  I  never  saw  so  many  together  before: 
and  it  is  only  when  you  see  a  number  of  these 
reptiles  together  that  you  realise  what  a 
strange  uncanny  being,  after  all,  is  a  snake: 
and  as  you  watch  him,  lying,  as  it  were,  in 
wait,  beautiful  exceedingly,  but  with  a  beauty 
that  inspires  you  with  a  shudder,  his  eyes  full 
of  cruelty  and  original  sin,  and  his  tongue  of 
calumny  and  mahce,  you  begin  to  understand 
his  influence  in  all  religions.  I  was  wholly  ab- 
sorbed in  their  snaky  evolutions,  and  buried  in 
mythological  reminiscences,  when  my  gdruda 
roused  me  suddenly,  by  saying:  HuzooVj 
look! 

He  leaned  over,  and  administered  with  his 
bare  hand  a  vicious  dig  to  a  magnificent 
hamadryad  that  lay  coiled  upon  itself  in  its 
open  basket.     The  creature  instantly  sat  up, 

1 1  did  not  count  them,  but  there  were  several  dozen,  nearly 
all  different.  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  this  man  must  have 
been  one  of  the  disciples  of  a  former  very  celebrated  snake 
charmer,  who  was  known  all  over  India. 


Preface  133 

with  a  surge  of  splendid  passion,  hissing,  bow- 
ing, and  expanding  angrily  its  great  tawny- 
hood.  The  gdruda  put  his  piingi  to  his  lips, 
and  blew  for  a  while  upon  it  a  low  and  wheezy 
drone, — the  invariable  prelude  to  a  Httle  ja- 
doo,  or  black  art, —  which  the  beautiful  animal 
appeared  to  appreciate:  and  then,  point- 
ing with  the  end  of  his  pipe  to  the  "  spec- 
tacles "  on  its  hood,  he  said,  with  that  silky, 
insinuating  smile  which  is  characteristic  of  the 
scamp:  Huzoor,  dehho,  namas  karta^: — • 

Ndgki  phani,  chdnd  Jca  d'OJch 
JJski  badi,  dp  ka  siikh. ' 

1  did  not  understand  his  lunar  allusion,  but, 
judging  that  his  rhyming  gibberish,  Hke  that 
of  the  rascally  priests  in  Apuleius,  was  a  care- 
fully prepared  oracle  of  general  application, 
kept  in  stock  for  the  cozening  of  such  prey  as 
myself,  I  repeated  to  him  my  favourite  Hindu 
proverb,^  and  gave  him  in  exchange  for  his 

» See,  he  makes  obeisance. 

2  Which  we  may  roughly  render :  Hood  of  snake  brings  joy 
and  rue,  this  to  moon  and  that  to  you.  In  all  Oriental  saws 
jingle  counts  for  much. 

»  "  Tulsi,  in  this  world  hobnob  with  everybody :  for  you  never 
know  in  what  guise  the  deity  may  present  himself."  In  the 
original  it  is  a  rhyming  stanza. 


134  Preface 

benevolent  cheque  on  the  future,  a  more  com- 
monplace article  of  present  value,  which  led 
to  our  parting  on  the  most  amicable  terms. 
But  I  did  him  injustice,  perhaps.  Long  af- 
terwards, having  occasion  to  consult  an  as- 
tronomical chart,  with  reference  to  this  very- 
story,  all  at  once  I  started,  and  in  an  instant, 
the  golden  evening,  the  walls  of  Delhi,  and  my 
friend  of  the  many  snakes  and  sinister  eyes, 
suddenly  rose  up  again  into  my  mind.  For 
there,  staring  at  me  out  of  the  chart,  was  the 
mark  on  the  cobra's  head.  It  is  the  sign  still 
used  in  modern  astronomy  for  "  the  head  and 
tail  of  the  dragon,"  the  nodes  indicating  the 
point  of  occultation,  the  symbol  of  eclipse. 

What  then  induced  or  inspired  the  gdruda 
to  connect  me  with  the  moon?  Was  it  really 
black  art,  divination,  or  was  it  only  a  coin- 
cidence? Reason  recommends  the  latter  al- 
ternative: and  yet,  the  contrary  persuasion  is 
not  without  its  charm.  Who  knows?  It 
may  be  that  the  soul  grows  to  its  atmosphere 
as  well  as  the  body,  and  living  in  a  land  where 
dreams  are  realities,  and  all  things  are  credi- 


Preface  135 

ble,  and  history  is  only  a  fairy  tale — the  land 
of  the  moon  and  the  lotus  and  the  snake,  old 
gods  and  old  ruins,  former  births,  second 
sight,  and  idealism — it  falls  back,  uncon- 
sciously mesmerised,  under  the  spell  of  for- 
gotten creeds. 

POONA,  April,  1906. 


Contents 


FAGB 

I.    A  Haunted  Beauty       ....    139 

II.     A  Total  Eclipse  .  .  .  .181 

III.    A  Fatal  Kiss      .  .  .  .  .241 


137 


A  Haunted  Beauty 


139 


A  Haunted  Beauty 

May  that  triumphant  Lord  protect  us,  who 
as  he  stands  in  mysterious  meditation,  bathed 
in  twilight,  motionless,  and  ashy  pale,^  with 
the  crystal  moon  in  his  yellow  hair,  appears 
to  the  host  of  worshippers  on  his  left,  a  wo- 
manj  and  to  those  on  his  right,  a  man, 

I 

There  lived  of  old,  on  the  edge  of  the 
desert,  a  raja  of  the  race  of  the  sun.  And 
like  that  sun  reflected  at  midday  in  the  glassy 
depths  of  the  Manasa  lake,  he  had  an  image 
of  himself  in  the  form  of  a  son,^  who  exactly 
resembled  him  in  every  particular,  except  age. 
And  he  gave  him  the  name  of  Aja,  for  he  said: 
He  is  not  another,  but  my  very  self  that  has 

»  Being  actually  smeared  with  ashes.  The  god  is  of  course 
Shiwa,  and  the  allusion  is  to  his  Ardhandri,  or  half  male,  half 
female  form. 

2  This  punning  assonance  is  precisely  in  the  vein  of  the 
original. 

141 


142  A  Haunted  Beauty 

conquered  death,  and  passed  without  birth 
straight  over  into  another  body.  Moreover, 
he  will  resemble  his  ancestor,  and  the  god  after 
whom  I  have  called  him  Aja/  So  as  this  son 
grew  up,  his  father's  delight  in  him  grew 
greater  also.  For  he  was  tall  as  a  shdla  tree, 
and  very  strong,  and  yet  like  another  God  of 
Love :  for  his  face  was  more  beautiful  than  the 
face  of  any  woman,  with  large  eyes  like  lapis- 
lazuli,  and  lips  like  laughter  incarnate :  so  that 
his  father,  as  often  as  he  looked  at  him,  said 
to  himself:  Surely  the  Creator  has  made  a 
mistake,  and  mixed  up  his  male  and  female  in- 
gredients, and  made  him  half  and  half.  For 
if  only  he  had  had  a  twin  sister,  it  would  have 
been  difficult  to  tell  with  certainty  which  was 
which. 

And  then,  when  Aja  was  eighteen,  his 
father  died.  And  immediately,  his  relations 
conspired  against  him,  led  by  his  maternal 
uncle.     And  they  laid  a  plot,  and  seized  him 

>  This  name  (pronounce  Aj-  to  rhyme  with  trudge),  meaning 
both  unborn  and  a  goat,  is  a  name  of  the  sun  (who  was  a 
goat  in  Assyria),  the  soul,  Brahma,  Wishnu,  Shiwa,  the  God 
of  Love,  and  others.  It  was  also  the  name  of  Rama's  grand- 
father. 


A  Haunted  Beauty  143 

at  night,  and  bound  him  when  he  was  asleep: 
for  they  dared  not  attack  him  when  he  was 
awake,  for  fear  of  his  courage  and  his  prodi- 
gious strength.  And  they  dehberated  over  him, 
as  he  lay  bound,  what  they  should  do  with  him : 
and  some  of  them  were  for  putting  him  to 
death,  then  and  there.  But  the  prime  minis- 
ter, who  was  in  the  plot,  persuaded  them  to 
let  him  live,  saying  to  himself:  In  this  way  I 
shall  make  for  myself  a  loophole  of  escape,  in 
case  he  should  ever  regain  his  throne. 

Then  in  the  early  morning,  his  uncle  and  his 
other  relations  took  him  away,  and  laid  him 
bound  on  a  swift  camel.  And  mounting 
others,  they  hurried  him  away  into  the  desert, 
going  at  full  speed  for  hours,  till  they  reached 
its  very  heart.  And  there  they  set  him  down. 
And  they  placed  beside  him  a  little  water  in 
a  small  skin,  and  a  little  bag  of  corn.  And  his 
uncle  said :  Now,  O  nephew,  we  will  leave  thee, 
alone  with  thy  shadow  and  thy  life  in  the  sand. 
And  if  thou  canst  save  thyself  by  going  away 
to  the  western  quarter,  lo!  it  is  open  before 
thee.  But  beware  of  attempting  to  return 
home,  towards  the  rising  sun.       For  I  will 


144  A  Haunted  Beauty- 

set  guards  to  watch  thy  coming,  and  I  will  not 
spare  thee  a  second  time. 

And  then,  he  set  his  left  arm  free,  and  laid 
beside  him  a  little  knife.  And  they  mounted 
their  camels,  and  taking  his,  they  flew  away 
from  him  over  the  sand,  like  the  shadow  of  a 
cloud  driven  by  the  western  wind. 

So  when  they  were  gone,  Aja  took  the  knife, 
and  cut  his  bonds.  And  he  stood  up,  and 
watched  them  going,  till  they  became  specks 
on  the  edge  of  the  desert  and  vanished  out  of 
his  sight. 


II 

Then  he  looked  round  to  the  eight  quarters 
of  the  world,  and  he  looked  up  into  the  sky. 
And  he  said  to  himself:  There  is  my  ancestor, 
alone  above,  and  I  am  alone,  below.  And  he 
put  his  two  hands  to  his  breast,  and  flung 
them  out  into  the  air.  And  he  exclaimed: 
Bho!  ye  guardians  of  the  world,^  ye  are  my 
witnesses.  Thus  do  I  fling  away  the  past, 
and  now  the  whole  wide  world  is  mine,  and 
ye  are  my  protectors.  And  I  have  escaped 
death  by  a  miracle,  and  the  craft  of  that  old 
villain  of  a  prime  minister,  whom  I  will  one 
day  punish  as  he  deserves.  And  now  it  is  as 
though  I  knew,  for  the  very  first  time  in  all 
my  life,  what  it  was  to  be  alive.  Ha!  I  live 
and  breathe,  and  there  before  me  is  food 
and  water.       And  now  we  will  see  which  is 

» The  Lokapdlas,  or  regents  of  the  world,  often  thus  appealed 
to,  are  eight:  Kubera,  Isha,  Indra,  Agni,Yama,  Niruti.Waruna, 
and  Wayu:  and  they  ride  on  a  horse,  a  bull,  an  elephant,  a  ram, 
a  buffalo,  a  man,  a  "crocodile,"  and  a  stag. 
10  145 


146  A  Haunted  Beauty 

the  stronger:  Death  in  the  form  of  this  lonely- 
desert,  or  the  life  that  laughs  at  his  menace 
as  it  dances  in  my  veins.  And  little  I  care  for 
the  loss  of  my  kingdom,  now  that  my  father  is 
dead  and  gone.  I  throw  it  away  like  a  blade 
of  grass,  and  so  far  from  lamenting,  I  feel 
rather  as  if  I  had  been  born  again.  Ha!  it 
is  good  to  be  alive,  even  in  this  waste  of  sand. 
And  he  shouted  aloud,  and  called  out  to  the 
sun  above  him:  Come,  old  Grandfather,  thou 
and  I  will  travel  together  across  the  sand. 
And  yet,  no.  Thou  art  too  rapid  and  too 
fierce  to  be  a  safe  companion,  even  for  one  of 
thine  own  race.  So  thou  shalt  go  before  me, 
as  is  due  to  thee,  and  I  will  follow  after. 

And  then,  he  lay  down  on  the  sand,  covering 
his  head  A\dth  his  upper  garment,  and  slept  and 
waited  all  day  long,  till  the  sun  was  going 
down.  And  then  he  rose,  and  ate  and  drank 
a  very  little,  and  taking  with  him  his  skin  and 
corn,  he  walked  on  after  the  sun,  which  sank 
to  his  rest  in  the  western  mountain.  But  Aja 
followed  him  all  night  long,  with  the  moon  for 
his  only  companion.     And  as  he  went,  he  saw 


A  Haunted  Beauty  147 

the  bones  of  men  and  camels,  lying  along  the 
sand,  and  grinning  at  him  as  it  were  with 
white  and  silent  laughter,  as  though  to  say: 
Anticipate  thy  fate:  for  but  a  little  further 
on,  and  thou  shalt  be  what  we  are  now.  But 
he  went  on  with  nimble  feet,  like  one  that  hur- 
ries through  the  den  of  a  sleeping  hungry  lion, 
till  the  sun  rose  at  last  behind  him.  And  then 
again  he  lay  down,  and  rested  all  day  long,  and 
started  again  at  night.  And  so  he  proceeded 
for  many  days  till  all  his  water  and  corn  were 
gone.  And  as  he  threw  away  the  skin,  he  set 
his  teeth,  and  said:  No  matter.  I  will  reach 
the  end  of  this  hideous  sand,  which,  like  the 
dress  of  Draupadi,^  seems  to  roll  itself  out  as 
I  go  across  it,  though  I  should  have  to  go  walk- 
ing on  long  after  I  am  dead. 

And  night  after  night  he  went  on,  growing 
every  night  a  little  weaker.  And  then  at  last 
there  came  a  night  when  as  he  toiled  along 
with  heavy  steps  that  flagged  as  it  were  with 
loaded  feet,  faint  with  hunger  and  burning 

«  When  she  waa  lost  in  the  gambling  match,  and  Duhshasana 
tried  to  strip  her,  as  he  pulled  off  one  dress,  another  appeared 
below  it.  refusing  to  leave  her  naked. 


148  A  Haunted  Beauty 

thirst,  he  said  to  himself:  I  am  nearly  spent, 
and  now  the  end  is  coming  near,  either  of  the 
sand,  or  of  me.  And  then  the  sun  rose  behind 
him,  and  he  looked  up,  and  lo !  it  was  reflected 
from  the  wall  of  a  city  before  him,  which  re- 
sembled another  sun  of  hope  rising  in  the  west 
to  cheer  him.  And  he  rubbed  his  eyes,  and 
looked  again,  saying  to  himself:  Is  it  a  delu- 
sion of  the  desert,  to  mock  me  as  I  perish,  or  is 
it  really  a  true  city  ?  And  he  said  again :  Ha  I 
it  is  a  real  city.  And  his  ebbing  strength 
came  back  to  him  with  a  flood  of  joy.  And 
he  stopped,  and  took  up  a  little  sand,  and 
turned,  and  threw  it  back,  exclaiming:  Out 
upon  thee,  abode  of  death !  ^  Now,  then,  I 
have  beaten  thee,  and  thy  victim  will  after  all 
escape.  And  he  hurried  on  towards  the  city, 
half  afraid  to  take  his  eyes  away  from  it  for 
a  single  instant,  lest  it  should  disappear. 

So  as  he  drew  near  it,  he  saw  a  crowd  upon 
its  wall.  And  when  he  was  distant  from  it 
but  a  little  way,  suddenly  its  great  gate's 
mouth  was  thrown  open,  and  a  stream  of  peo- 

Still  the  name  of  Marwar, 


A  Haunted  Beauty  149 

pie  shot  from  it  like  a  long  tongue,  and  rapidly 
came  towards  him,  so  that  he  said  to  himself: 
Ha!  then,  as  it  seems,  I  am  expected  by  the 
citizens  of  this  delightful  city,  who  are  as 
eager  to  come  to  me  as  I  am  to  get  to  them. 
And  they  came  closer,  clamouring  and  buzzing 
as  it  were  like  bees ;  and  he  looked,  and  lo !  they 
were  all  women,  and  there  was  not  a  man 
among  them  all.  And  as  he  wondered,  they 
ran  up,  and  reached  him,  and  threw  themselves 
upon  him  like  a  wave  of  the  sea,  laughing  and 
crying,  and  drowning  him  in  their  embraces: 
and  they  took  him  as  it  were  captive,  and 
swept  him  away  towards  the  city,  all  talking 
at  once,  and  deafening  him  with  their  joyful 
exclamations,  paying  not  the  least  attention 
to  anything  that  he  tried  to  say.  And  Aja 
let  himself  go,  carried  away  by  all  those  women 
like  a  leaf  in  a  rushing  stream.  And  he  said 
to  himself,  in  astonishment :  What  is  this  great 
wonder?  For  all  these  women  Jfight  for  me, 
as  if  they  had  never  seen  a  man  in  their  lives 
before.  Where  then  can  the  men  be,  to  whom 
they  must  belong?     Or  can  it  be  that  I  have 


150  A  Haunted  Beauty 

come  to  a  city  composed  of  women  without  a 
man?  Have  I  escaped  the  desert  only  to 
be  drowned  in  a  sea  of  women?  For  what  is 
the  use  of  a  single  man  in  an  ocean  of  the 
other  sex?  Or  are  they  dragging  me  away  to 
offer  me  up  to  the  Mother/  having  sacrificed 
all  their  own  husbands  already?  Or  have  I 
really  died  in  the  desert,  and  is  all  this  only  a 
dream  of  the  other  world?  Can  these  be  the 
heavenly  Apsarases,  come  in  a  body  to  fetch 
me  away,  as  if  I  had  fallen  in  battle?  Surely 
they  are,  for  some  of  them  are  suffi- 
ciently beautiful  even  for  Indra's  hall.  And 
anyhow,  it  is  better  to  be  torn  to  pieces 
by  beautiful  women,  even  if  there  are  far 
too  many,  than  to  die  in  the  desert,  all 
alone. 

So  as  they  bore  him  along,  chattering  on 
like  jays  and  cranes,  he  said  again  to  the  wo- 
men next  him:  Fair  ones,  who  are  you,  and 
where  are  you  taking  me,  and  why  in  the  world 
are  you  so  greatly  delighted  to  see  me?  And 
then  at  last,  they  replied:  O  handsome  stran- 

'  Durga  or  Parwati. 


A  Haunted  Beauty  151 

ger,  ask  nothing :  very  soon  thou  shalt  know  all, 
for  we  are  carrying  thee  away  to  our  King. 
And  Aja  said  to  himself:  Ha!  So,  then, 
there  is  a  King.  These  women  have,  after  all, 
a  King.  Truly,  I  am  fain  to  see  him,  this 
singular  King  of  a  female  city.  And  weak 
as  he  was,  he  began  to  laugh,  as  they  all  were 
laughing :  and  so  they  all  surged  on  like  a  very 
sea  of  laughter,  through  the  gates  of  the  city, 
and  along  the  streets  within,  till  they  came  at 
last  to  the  King's  palace.  And  all  the  way, 
Aja  looked,  and  there  was  not  to  be  seen  so 
much  as  the  shadow  of  a  man  in  all  the  streets, 
which  overflowed  with  women  like  the  chan- 
nel of  a  river  in  the  rainy  season. 

Then  the  guards  of  the  palace  doors,  who 
were  also  women,  took  him,  and  led  him  in; 
and  all  the  women  who  had  brought  him 
crowded  in  behind.  And  they  mounted  stairs, 
and  after  a  while,  they  entered  at  last  a  great 
hall,  whose  pillars  of  alabaster  were  reflected 
in  its  dark  green  crystal  floor,  giving  it  the 
semblance  of  a  silent  pool  in  which  a  multi- 
tude of  colossal  swans  had  buried  their  necks 


152  A  Haunted  Beauty 

beneath  the  water.  And  there  Aja  found  him- 
self in  the  presence  of  the  King. 

And  instantly,  all  the  women  screamed  to- 
gether: Victory  to  thee,  Maharaja!  for  here 
have  we  brought  thee  another  husband  for  thy 
lovely  daughter.  And  Aja  started.  And  he 
said  to  himself:  Another  husband!  How 
many  husbands,  then,  has  this  strange  King's 
daughter  got  already?  Has  she  an  insatiable 
thirst  for  husbands,  whose  number  I  am 
brought  to  swell?  So  as  he  stood  reflecting, 
the  King  leaped  from  his  throne,  and  came 
towards  him.  And  as  Aja  looked  at  him,  he 
was  seized  with  amazement  greater  than  be- 
fore. For  the  King  resembled  a  very  incar- 
nation of  the  essence  of  grief,  yet  such  that 
it  was  difficult  to  behold  him  without  laugh- 
ter, as  if  the  Creator  had  made  him  to  exhibit 
skill  in  combining  the  two.  For  his  long  thin 
hair  was  pure  white,  as  if  with  sorrow,  and  his 
eyes  were  red,  as  if  with  weeping,  and  great 
hollow  ruts  were  furrowed  in  his  sunk  and  with- 
ered cheeks,  as  if  the  tears  had  worn  them- 
selves channels  in  which  to  run.     And  though 


A  Haunted  Beauty  i53 

he  was  tall,  he  was  bent  and  old,  as  if  bowed 
down  by  a  load  of  care.  And  he  tried,  as  if 
in  vain,  to  smile,  as  he  said  in  a  mournful  voice 
that  quavered  and  cracked:  O  man,  whoever 
thou  art,  long  have  I  waited  for  thee,  and  glad 
indeed  I  am  to  see  thee,  and  inclined  to  dance 
like  a  peacock  at  the  sight  of  a  rainy  cloud. 

And  as  he  gazed  upon  the  King,  Aja  was 
seized  with  sudden  laughter  that  would  not  be 
controlled,  saying  within  himself:  Much  in 
common  they  have  between  them,  a  dancing 
happy  peacock,  and  this  doleful  specimen  of 
a  weeping  King!  And  he  laughed  till  tears 
ran  down  his  cheeks  also,  as  if  in  imitation  of 
those  of  the  King.  And  when  at  last  he  could 
speak,  he  said:  O  King,  forgive  me.  For  I 
am  very  weak,  and  have  come  within  a  little  of 
dying  in  the  desert.  And  I  laughed  from 
sheer  exhaustion,  and  for  joy  to  see  in  thy  per- 
son as  it  were  the  warrant  of  my  escape  from 
death.  Give  me  food,  and  above  all,  water,  if 
thou  wouldst  not  have  me  die  at  thy  feet.  And 
afterwards,  show  me,  if  thou  wilt,  thy  daugh- 
ter, to  whom,  as  it  seems,  I  am  to  be  married 


154  A  Haunted  Beauty 

whether  I  will  or  no.  And  the  King  said:  O 
thou  model  of  the  Creator's  cunning  in  the 
making  of  man,  thy  hilarity  is  excused.  Food 
thou  shalt  have,  and  water,  and  everything 
else  thou  canst  require,  and  that  immediately. 
But  as  for  my  daughter,  there  she  is  before 
thee.  And  she  could  teach  dancing  even  to 
Tumburu  himself.^ 

« A  Ghandarwa,  or  heavenly  musician,  and  the  dancing  mas- 
ter of  the  Apsarases.  [Pronounce  turn-  to  rhyme  with  room, 
rather  short.] 


Ill 


And  then,  as  the  laughter  surged  again  in 
Aja's  soul,  saying  within  himself:  Out  on  this 
pitiable  old  scarecrow  of  a  King,  whose  only- 
thought  is  dancing!  the  King  turned,  and 
stood  aside.  And  Aja  looked,  and  instantly, 
the  laughter  died  out  of  his  heart,  which 
ceased  as  it  were  to  beat.  And  he  murmured 
to  himself:  Ha!  this  is  the  most  wonderful 
thing  of  all.  King  and  women  and  desert  and 
all  vanished  out  of  his  mind,  as  if  the  senti- 
ment that  suddenly  seized  it  filled  it  so  com- 
pletely as  to  leave  room  for  nothing  else.  And 
he  stood  still  gazing,  feeling  as  though  he  were 
spinning  round,  though  he  was  standing  still  as 
death.  For  there  before  him  stood  this  enig- 
matical King's  daughter.  And  like  her  father, 
she  also  seemed  an  incarnation  of  the  soul  of 
grief,  not  as  in  his  case  ignominious  and  an 
object  of  derision,  but  rather  resembling  a 
.  155 


156  A  Haunted  Beauty 

heavenly  drug  compounded  of  the  camphor 
of  the  cold  and  midnight  moon,  that  had  put  on 
a  fragrant  form  of  feminine  and  fairy  beauty 
to  drive  the  world  to  sheer  distraction,  half 
with  love  and  half  with  woe.  For  like  the 
silvery  vision  of  the  new-born  streak  of  that 
Lord  of  Herbs,  she  was  slender  and  pale  and 
wan,  formed  as  it  seemed  of  some  new  strange 
essence  of  pure  clear  ice  and  new  dropt  snow, 
and  she  loomed  on  the  soul  of  Aja  out  of  the 
blackness  of  his  trance  like  a  large  white  droop- 
ing lily,  just  seen  in  the  gloom  of  an  inky 
night.  And  her  hair  and  brow  were  the  colour 
of  a  thunder-cloud  in  the  month  of  Chaitra,^ 
and  like  that  cloud,  the  heavy  sorrow  hung  in 
her  great  dark  mournful  eyes,  drenching  him 
as  it  were  with  a  shower  of  dusky  dreamy  dewy 
beauty,  and  drawing  him  down  bewitched  and 
lost  like  the  victim  of  a  haunted  pool  into  the 
snaky  eddy  of  their  silent  unfathomable  re- 
cess. And  yet  her  deep  red  lips  trembled,  as 
it  were  on  the  very  border  of  a  smile,  as  if 
they  were  hinting  against  their  will  of  a  mine 

•April. 


A  Haunted  Beauty  i57 

of  laughter  and  subtle  snares  that  they  were 
not  allowed  to  use.  And  she  had  risen  up  to 
come  and  meet  him,  yet  was  hanging  back  as 
if  reluctant,  and  so  she  stood,  all  reflected  in 
the  polished  floor,  with  her  head  thrown  back 
to  look  at  him,  for  she  was  very  small,  like 
one  on  the  very  point  of  imploring  help,  yet 
shrinking,  as  if  too  proud  to  ask  it  from  a 
stranger,  balanced  as  it  were  between  reliance 
on  her  own  pure  and  pleading  beauty  and 
doubtfulness  of  its  reception.  So  she  halted 
irresolute,  with  glorious  throat  that  was  hov- 
ering still  over  the  swell  of  her  lifted  breasts, 
poised  as  it  were  on  the  very  verge  of  tumul- 
tuous oscillation,  like  that  of  Rati,  preparing 
with  timidity  to  cast  herself  at  the  feet  of  the 
three-eyed  God,  to  beg  back  the  body  of  her 
burned-up  husband  in  a  passion  of  love-lorn 
tears. 

And  Aja  stood  before  her,  like  the  sea  when 
the  digit  of  the  moon  rises  suddenly  over  its 
waves,  stirred  with  a  tumult  of  strange  emo- 
tions, and  yet  lit  by  a  heavenly  ray,  a  mass  of 
agitated  darkness  mixed  with  dancing,  trem- 


158  A  Haunted  Beauty 

bling  light ;  all  unaware  that  he  was  himself  to 
the  King's  daughter  exactly  what  she  was  to 
him,  a  weapon  of  bewilderment  in  the  hands  of 
the  cunning  god  of  the  flowery  bow,  who  shot 
him  suddenly  at  her,  like  an  arrow  of  intoxica- 
tion, and  pierced  her  through  the  very  middle 
of  the  soft  lotus  of  her  heart. 

So  they  two  stood  awhile  in  silence.  And 
all  at  once,  Aja  spoke,  not  knowing  that  he 
spoke  aloud.  And  he  said,  very  slowly:  How 
many  husbands,  then,  have  already  had  this 
lustrous  beauty,  who  looks  for  all  as  pure 
and  pale  and  undefiled  as  a  new  young  delicate 
jasmine  bud?  And  instantly,  as  if  roused 
from  sleep  by  his  reproach,  he  saw  the  colour 
leap  up  into  her  cheek,  and  spread  like  dawn 
flushing  over  her  burning  throat  and  brow. 
And  she  drew  a  sudden  breath,  and  her  bosom 
heaved  abruptly  as  if  with  a  sob  of  shame. 
And  at  that  moment,  the  voice  of  the  King 
her  father  broke  harshly  into  Aja's  dream, 
saying :  Alas !  alas !  Never  a  husband  has  had 
her  yet,  though  she  is  now  long  past  sixteen, 
and  could  even  teach  Tumburu  dancing. 


A  Haunted  Beauty  159 

And  then,  as  if  the  King's  words  had  sud- 
denly Hfted  a  weight  from  his  soul,  Aja  burst 
into  a  shout  of  laughter.  And  he  tottered,  as 
if  to  fall.  And  he  caught  at  the  old  King's 
arm,  and  gripped  it  so  that  he  almost 
screamed,  exclaiming  amid  his  laughter:  Hal 
King,  I  am  also  the  son  of  a  King:  and  now 
I  will  be  thy  son-in-law.  And  she  shall  have 
a  husband  at  last,  and  teach  him,  if  she  pleases, 
dances  that  even  Tumburu  does  not  know. 
And  with  that,  he  fell  into  such  a  paroxysm 
of  laughter,  that  weak  as  he  was,  he  could  not 
stand,  but  fell:  and  his  laughing  turned  to 
sobbing.  Then  the  King's  daughter  turned 
to  her  father,  with  an  angry  flush  on  her  brow. 
And  she  said,  with  strong  emotion:  O  father, 
wilt  thou  delay  for  ever  to  send  for  food  and 
water?  Dost  thou  not  see  that  this  King's 
son,  great  and  powerful  though  he  be,  is  weak, 
and  it  may  be,  perishing,  before  thy  face,  of 
hunger  and  thirst,  having  escaped  by  a  mira- 
cle out  of  the  desert  to  die  by  thy  neglect? 

And  she  clapped  her  hands,  stamping  her 
foot  in  indignation.     Then  the  women  ran, 


i6o  A  Haunted  Beauty 

and  took  up  Aja,  and  carried  him  away.  And 
they  bathed  him,  and  tended  him,  and  fed  him 
till  he  was  recovered:  and  after  a  while,  they 
brought  him  back,  into  the  presence  of  the 
King. 


IV 


So  he  came  once  more  into  that  hall,  looking 
like  another  man.  And  he  seemed  in  the  eyes 
of  the  King  Hke  the  rising  sun  of  his  daugh- 
ter's marriage,  but  in  those  of  his  daughter 
hke  the  very  God  of  Love,  newly  risen  from 
his  own  ashes.  And  he  said  joyously:  O 
King,  now  I  am  again  myself:  and  my  reason 
and  my  strength  have  both  again  returned  to 
me.  And  if  in  their  absence,  I  behaved 
strangely  and  without  good  manners,  it  be- 
hoves thee  to  lay  the  blame  rather  on  the  de- 
sert of  sand  that  surrounds  thy  city,  than  on 
myself.  For  I  was  like  one  delirious,  and  half 
distracted  by  wonder  and  other  feelings  com- 
ing to  the  aid  of  hunger  and  thirst.  Then  he 
told  the  King  his  name  and  family,  and  all  his 
story,  looking  all  the  while  at  the  King's 
daughter,  as  she  did  all  the  while  at  him,  with 
glances  that  resembled  sighs.  But  as  he 
iz  i6z 


1 62  A  Haunted  Beauty 

watched  her,  Aja  said  to  himself  in  wonder: 
What  has  happened  to  her,  since  I  saw  her 
first,  and  what  is  the  matter  with  her,  now? 
For  her  quiet  grief  has  abandoned  her,  and 
she  looks  Uke  one  in  a  burning  fever;  and  two 
red  spots,  like  suns,  burn  and  blaze  upon  her 
cheeks,  and  her  great  eyes  shine  and  glow,  as 
if  there  were  a  fire  within  her  soul.  So  when 
he  had  finished  his  own  tale,  he  said:  Now, 
then,  O  King,  I  have  told  thee  all  that  I  have 
to  tell.  And  now  it  is  thy  turn  to  speak.  Ex- 
plain to  me  all  this  wonder;  for  I  seem  to 
move  in  a  maze  of  extraordinary  events.  Why 
are  there,  in  thy  city,  no  men,  but  only  women? 
And  what  is  the  cause  of  thy  grief?  And, 
greatest  wonder  of  all,  how  comes  it  that  thou 
hast  found  a  difficulty  in  finding  a  husband 
for  this  thy  daughter?  For,  as  for  myself, 
know  that,  make  any  terms  thou  wilt,  I  am 
ready  to  marry  her,  blindfold,  on  any  condi- 
tions whatever:  nay,  would  she  only  be  my 
wife,  I  should  consider  the  fruit  of  my  birth 
attained. 

And  then,  to  his  amazement,  that  strange 


A  Haunted  Beauty  163 

old  King  began  to  weep  once  more.  And 
tears  flowed  down  his  cheeks  hke  rain,  as  he 
said:  Alas  I  alas!  O  son-in-law  that  would  be, 
so  fine  a  man  art  thou,  that  I  am  distressed  in- 
deed to  see  thee,  and  to  hear  thee  so  eagerly 
proposing  to  take  my  daughter  for  thy  wife. 
For  all  that  have  preceded  thee,  and  they  were 
many  hundreds,  have  said  the  very  same:  and 
yet  all  without  exception  have  come  to  a  mis- 
erable end:  and  there  she  is,  unmarried  still.^ 
And  yet  this  is  no  fault  of  hers,  unless  indeed 
it  be  a  fault  to  be  beautiful  beyond  compare. 
Nor  has  her  maiden  purity  been  sullied  in  the 
least  degree  by  ever  a  suitor  of  them  all.  But 
all  this  has  come  about  by  reason  of  a  fault 
of  mine,  itself,  beyond  a  doubt,  the  bitter  fruit 
of  the  tree  of  crimes  committed  in  a  former 
birth.  For  know  that  long  ago,  when  I  was 
young,  I  conquered  the  entire  earth,  and 
■brought  it  all,  from  sea  to  sea,  under  the 
shadow  of  one  umbrella.     So  when  I  was  re- 

«  It  may  not  be  superfluous  to  remind  the  English  reader 
that,  according  to  Hindoo  ideas,  there  is  no  disgrace  like  that 
of  possessing  an  unmarried  daughter.  Hence  the  practice, 
among  the  Rajpoots  and  adjacent  peoples,  of  destroying  the 
female  infants,  to  avoid  it. 


1 64  A  Haunted  Beauty 

posing,  after  my  exertions,  one  day  there 
came  to  see  me  Narada  and  another  rishi. 
And  Narada  entered  first.  And  when  he 
complimented  me,  as  the  chosen  husband  of 
the  earth,  I  said  to  myself :  Now,  I  must  make 
him  some  suitable  return.  And  accordingly, 
I  presented  him  with  the  whole  earth.  Then 
he  replied :  O  King,  what  is  the  use  of  the  earth 
to  me?  And  he  gave  it  back  to  me,  with  his 
blessing,  saying:  Obtain  an  incomparably 
beautiful  offspring !  ^  and  so  he  went  away. 
And  then  the  other  great  rishi  entered,  and 
congratulated  me  also.  And  I  presented  him 
also  with  the  entire  earth.  Then  that  rishi 
looked  at  me  with  eyes  that  were  red  with 
anger.  And  he  said  slowly:  What!  Is  my 
merit  utterly  despised?  Dost  thou  presume 
to  offer  me  only  the  leavings  of  another?  Thou 
shalt  indeed  obtain  offspring,  but  only  of  the 
female  sex.  And  beautiful  it  shall  be  indeed: 
but  little  shall  that  beauty  profit  either  thyself 

« Intending,  of  course,  a  son.  Unfortunately  he  employed  a 
word  of  indeterminate  gender  :  hence  the  lamentable  denoue- 
ment. For  in  ancient  India,  as  in  ancient  Rome,  the  spoken 
V}ord,  the  letter,  determined  everything. 


A  Haunted  Beauty  165 

or  her.  So  having  uttered  his  curse/  he 
laughed,  and  instantly  went  away,  refusing  to 
be  propitiated  or  to  throw  any  light  upon  the 
future.  And  thereafter  in  due  time  there  was 
born  to  me,  not  the  nectar  of  a  son,  but  this 
lump  of  grief  in  the  form  of  a  daughter.  And 
as  if  her  sex  were  not  enough,^  her  almost  in- 
conceivable beauty  and  accomplishments  have 
only  added  to  my  calamity:  nay,  they  are  the 
very  root  of  it,  and  the  essence  of  its  sting. 
For  all  has  come  to  pass,  exactly  as  that  testy 
old  rishi  said.  For  though  she  is,  as  thou 
seest,  beautiful  as  the  moon,  and  like  it,  full  of 
arts,^  and  above  all,  a  dancer  that  wOuld  turn 
even  Tumburu  green  with  envy,  all  this  nectar 
has  become  poison  by  the  curse  of  that  old 

>  Nothing  in  Hindoo  mythology  is  more  absurd  than  the 
implacable  fury  of  the  most  holy  men  for  the  most  trifling 
slights,  unless  it  be  the  accuracy  with  which  their  most  dread- 
ful imprecations  are  Uterally  fulfilled.  This  was,  I  believe, 
characteristic  also  of  the  saints  of  Erin. 

» An  English  lady  having  called,  not  long  ago,  at  the  house 
of  a  Hindoo  lady,  to  enquire  how  she  was,  after  an  interesting 
event,  and  what  was  the  result,  received  for  answer:  Alas, 
memsahib,  nothing  at  all :  a  girl.  Had  she  been  a  partisan  of 
"woman's  rights,"  she  would  probably  never  have  recovered 
from  the  shock. 

^  A  play  on  words,  not  transferable  to  English. 


i66  A  Haunted  Beauty 

ascetic,  and  the  very  perfection  of  her  beauty 
has  become  the  means  of  undoing  us  both. 
For  about  two  years  ago,  as  we  were  walking 
together  at  midnight,  on  the  terrace  of  the  pal- 
ace, that  forms  the  edge  of  the  city  wall,  en- 
joying the  cold  camphor  of  the  moon  after  the 
heat  of  a  burning  day,  suddenly,  out  of  the 
desert,  we  heard  as  it  were  the  rush  of  wings. 
And  as  we  stood  and  listened,  there  arose  in 
the  air  a  sound  of  voices,  like  those  of  a  man 
and  woman  in  vehement  dispute.  But  though 
we  could  distinguish  the  tones,  we  could  not 
understand  the  meaning,  for  the  language  was 
unknown  to  us.  And  then,  after  a  while, 
those  two  invisible  air-goers  appeared  all  at 
once  before  our  eyes,  seated  on  the  battle- 
ments, in  the  form  of  a  pair  of  vultures.^ 
And  immediately,  the  male  vulture  spoke  with 
a  human  voice,  saying:  O  King,  give  me  now 
this  daughter  of  thine  to  wife.  And  instantly 
I  answered  rashly:  Never  will  I  bestow  my 
daughter  on  a  bird  of  ill-omen  such  as  thou 
art.      Thereupon     that     evil-minded     suitor 

» It  is  a  very  bad  omen,  in  India,  for  a  vulture  to  settle  on  a 
house. 


A  Haunted  Beauty  167 

laughed  like  a  hyana:  and  instantly  my 
daughter  fell  into  a  swoon.  And  as  she  lay 
in  the  moonlight,  she  looked  so  indescribably 
and  unutterably  beautiful  that  even  that  loath- 
some bird  was  moved.  And  he  said  to  his 
companion:  Daughter,  I  was  right,  and  thou 
wert  wrong.  Look,  and  see,  and  allow,  that 
she  is  far  more  beautiful  than  even  thou  art. 
Thereupon  that  gridhri  ^  laughed  also,  and 
she  said:  Time  shall  show.  Listen,  King. 
This  is  Kirttisena,  a  nephew  of  Wasuki,  King 
of  the  Snakes,  and  I  am  his  only  daughter. 
For  this  form  of  vulture  was  assumed  by  us, 
only  to  converse  with  thee.  Now  he  main- 
tained thy  daughter  to  be  more  beautiful  than 
I  am.  Thereupon  I  vowed  vengeance.  But 
I  agreed  to  leave  her  unmolested,  if  thou  didst 
give  her  to  him  for  a  wife.  So  to  preserve  her 
from  my  vengeance,  he  asked  her  of  thee  in 
marriage.  Now,  then,  since  thou  hast  re- 
jected his  suit,  despising  him  hastily  for  his 
outward  form,  and  since  my  own  beauty  has 
been  slighted  by  his  comparison,  ye  two  shall 

1  A  female  vulture.     I  retain  the  original  word,  because  it 
eeema  to  be  peculiarly  expressive  of  the  thing. 


i68  A  Haunted  Beauty 

be  punished,  she  for  her  beauty,  and  thou  for 
thine  insolence,  and  through  the  means  of  that 
very  beauty,  on  account  of  which  my  father 
and  I  have  become  contemptible.  See,  O 
thou  who  despisest  a  suitor,  whether  thou 
canst  easily  procure  another.  This  shall  be 
the  condition  of  thy  daughter's  marriage. 
"Whatever  suitor  shall  lay  claim  to  her,  thou 
shalt  send  up  to  this  terrace  alone  at  night. 
And  if  he  claims,  and  does  not  come,  we  will 
swallow  thy  city  whole,  houses  and  all.  Then 
those  two  vultures  disappeared.  And  not 
long  afterwards,  hearing  that  my  daughter 
was  to  be  given  in  marriage,  suitors  arrived 
like  swarms  of  bees  from  every  quarter  of  the 
world,  attracted  by  her  fame.  For  she  is 
called  Yashowati,  because  the  fame  of  her 
fills  the  world.  Then  all  those  suitors  fol- 
lowed one  another,  like  the  days  of  the  year 
in  which  they  went,  up  upon  the  terrace  of  the 
city  wall :  and  like  those  days,  not  one  of  them 
all  has  ever  returned,  but  they  have  vanished 
utterly,  none  knows  how,  or  where.  And 
when  all  the  distant  suitors  were  exhausted, 


A  Haunted  Beauty  169 

and  all  the  neighbouring  kings,  then,  in  my 
ardent  desire  to  get  her  married,  no  matter 
how,  to  no  matter  whom,  I  offered  her  to  the 
men  of  my  own  city,  showing  her  to  them 
from  the  palace  windows.  And  every  man 
that  saw  her  ran  to  win  her;  and  one  by  one, 
the  men  of  the  city  followed  after  her  former 
suitors,  till  they  grew  few  in  the  city.  There- 
upon the  women  banded  together,  and  took 
their  husbands  and  their  sons  and  everything 
in  the  shape  of  a  man,  and  hid  them :  and  now 
as  thou  seest,  there  is  not  a  man  to  be  seen  or 
found,  in  the  whole  city.  But  every  stranger 
that  comes  to  the  city,  they  catch,  and  bring 
him  straight  to  me,  as  they  have  done  in  thy 
case  also.  And  the  mere  sight  of  my  daugh- 
ter always  makes  him  not  only  willing,  but, 
as  thou  art,  even  eager,  to  marry  her  at  any 
cost.  And  yet  they  have  all  utterly  vanished, 
like  stones  dropped,  one  after  another,  into  a 
well  without  a  floor.  And  there  is  my  daugh- 
ter, maiden  and  unmarried  still.  And  I  can 
see  my  ancestors  wringing  their  hands  for 
grief:  knowing  well  that  as  soon  as  I  myself 


i7o  A  Haunted  Beauty 

am  dead,  it  is  all  over  with  their  race.  For 
who  will  offer  them  water,  since  the  fatal 
beauty  of  my  only  daughter  has  set  a  term  to 
my  ancient  line? 

So  as  Aja  stood,  lost  in  wonder  at  the  old 
King's  story,  his  daughter  suddenly  rose  to 
her  feet  with  a  shrill  cry.  And  she  exclaimed : 
O  son  of  a  King,  fly  quickly!  Hence!  away! 
back  with  thee  even  into  the  desert,  and  leave 
me  and  my  father  and  this  miserable  city  to 
our  inevitable  fate.  And  she  sank  down  in  a 
swoon,  and  would  have  fallen  to  the  ground, 
but  that  Aja  sprang  quickly  forward  and 
caught  her  as  she  fell. 

So  as  he  stood,  holding  her  in  his  arms,  and 
wishing  that  her  swoon  might  last  for  ever,  so 
only  that  he  held  her,  for  she  stole  away  his 
senses  with  the  seduction  of  her  fragrance  and 
proximity,  her  father  exclaimed,  in  dismay: 
Ha!  this  is  something  new,  and  a  thing  that 
has  never  occurred  before.  And  what  can  be 
the  matter  now?  O  son  of  a  King!  she  must 
have  fallen  in  love  with  thee,  as  well  indeed  she 
might,  for  thy  beauty  and  thy  youth.     And 


A  Haunted  Beauty  171 

doubtless  it  has  grieved  her  soul,  to  think  of 
thy  approaching  end.  But  alas!  alas!  this  is 
worse  than  all.  For  now,  if  thou  f  allest  a  vic- 
tim, as  cannot  fail  to  be  the  case,  like  all  thy 
predecessors,  she  will  herself  not  survive  thee: 
and  then,  indeed,  there  is  an  end  of  all.  For 
as  long  as  she  was  left  to  be  married,  there  was 
still  a  shadow  of  hope  behind. 

And  he  began  to  ramble  about,  wringing 
his  hands  for  grief.  But  Aja  said  to  himself, 
with  joy:  Ha!  this  was  all  I  wanted,  if  only 
it  be  true.  And  he  said  to  the  King :  O  King, 
it  will  be  time  enough  to  afflict  thyself  for  her 
death  or  for  mine  when  we  have  actually  died. 
But  count  me,  in  the  meantime,  as  thy  son-in- 
law:  and  be  under  no  anxiety  as  to  the  fate  of 
thy  ancestors.  For  I  will  guarantee  their  good 
condition:  and  this  very  night,  I  will  rid  thee 
of  the  evil  demon  that  molests  her.  And  to- 
morrow, I  will  take  this  hand,  and  lead  her 
round  the  fire.^ 

And  he  took  her  hand,  as  she  lay  in  his 
arms,  and  touched  it  with  his  lips. 

>  That  is,  marry  her. 


And  instantly,  as  though  his  kiss  had  been 
to  her  like  sandal  and  like  palm-leaf  fans,  she 
came  back  to  herself.  And  when  she  saw  who 
held  her,  she  started  up,  and  stood,  blushing 
the  colour  of  her  own  lips,  with  eyes  cast  upon 
the  ground.  And  the  King  said:  O  daugh- 
ter, what  is  this?  Does  it  become  a  high  caste 
maiden  outwardly  to  exhibit  her  inward  feel- 
ings, and  abandon  the  straight  line  of  virgin 
modesty  by  behaviour  that  betrays  her  heart? 

And  then,  Yashowati  sighed  deeply.  And 
she  looked  for  a  while  in  silence,  first  at  her 
father,  and  then  at  Aja:  and  all  at  once,  she 
stood  erect,  like  one  seized  by  sudden  resolu- 
tion, and  she  clapped  her  hands  together,  and 
exclaimed,  in  a  voice  that  shook  and  quivered 
with  emotion:  Ha!  who  can  hide  a  forest  fire 
by  covering  it  over  with  a  little  straw,  or  what 
does  maiden  conduct  matter,  in  the  ruin  of  the 

X72 


A  Haunted  Beauty  173 

three  worlds!  Aye!  the  fire  of  grief  consumed 
me,  to  see  this  noble  son  of  a  king,  and  to  think 
that  he  escaped  the  desert  only  to  meet  his 
death  from  me.  Now  has  my  punishment 
come  upon  me  in  the  form  of  this  tall  and 
splendid  youth.  For  I  grieved  for  the  fate 
of  my  former  suitors,  and  yet  I  saw  them 
for  all  that  go,  one  by  one,  to  their  useless 
doom,  and  still  myself  remained  alive.  Long 
ago,  beyond  a  doubt,  I  ought  myself  to  have 
left  the  body,  and  perished  of  my  own  accord, 
rather  than  consent  to  live,  the  cause  of  death 
to  so  many  others:  and  by  putting  myself  to 
death,  I  should  have  cut  in  two  the  fatal  chain 
of  their  succession,  and  saved  their  lives  by 
the  substitute  of  my  own.  And  now,  instead, 
I  have  been  as  it  were  their  murderess,  and  a 
death  to  them  all  in  female  form.  And  now 
the  Deity  has  avenged  them,  by  sending  to 
me  at  last  the  God  of  Love  in  human  shape, 
whose  death  will  be  a  grief  to  me  a  hundred 
fold  more  awful  than  any  death  I  could  have 
died.  And  I  myself  shall  not  survive  him. 
Then  why  waste  time  in  chiding  one  who  has 


174  A  Haunted  Beauty 

but  one  more  day  to  live?  For  as  soon  as 
night  arrives,  he  must  go  hke  the  rest  to  meet 
his  doom:  and  certain  it  is,  that  I  shall  not 
live  to  see  the  sun  rise  again  without  him. 

And  as  she  spoke,  they  gazed  at  her,  aston- 
ished. For  she  seemed  like  one  that  has  burst 
the  bonds  of  all  restraint,  and  thrown  all  con- 
sideration to  the  eight  quarters  of  the  world. 
But  as  soon  as  she  stopped,  the  old  King 
uttered  a  doleful  cry.  And  he  exclaimed: 
Yashowati,  O  daughter,  what  words  are  these? 
Is  it  any  fault  of  thine  that  thou  art  beautiful  ? 
And  wilt  thou  talk  of  abandoning  the  body? 
Then  what  will  become  of  the  family,  of  which 
thou  art  the  only  hope?  But  Aja  laughed: 
and  he  said :  O  lovely  lady,  waste  not  thy  grief 
on  such  a  thing  as  I  am:  and  O  father-in-law, 
cease  from  bewailing  calamities  that  are  only 
the  shadows  of  thy  own  fears  cast  upon  the 
dark  curtain  of  the  future.  For  many  are 
they  that  are  doomed  to  die,  yet  never  perish 
after  all.  And  I  have  not  escaped  the  sand 
to  perish  lightly  in  any  other  way.  Be  as- 
sured that  the  lamp  of  thy  race  is  burning  still 


A  Haunted  Beauty  i75 

with  a  steady  flame,  not  to  be  extinguished  by 
a  Httle  puff  of  wind.  To-morrow  we  will 
laugh  together  over  these  idle  apprehensions, 
which  the  rising  sun  will  dissipate  together 
with  the  mists  of  night. 

But  Yashowati  turned,  and  looked  at  him 
wath  steady  eyes.  And  she  said :  My  husband, 
for  such  indeed  thou  art,  the  first  that  I  have 
ever  chosen,^  and  the  last  that  shall  ever  claim 
my  hand:  dost  thou  think  that  I  w^ould  have 
so  far  forgotten  the  reserve  that  is  becoming 
to  a  maiden  of  my  caste,  as  to  offer  myself  like 
an  abhisdrikd,  but  that  I  know,  as  thou  canst 
not  know  it,  the  absolute  and  utterly  inevitable 
certainty  of  thy  doom,  and  that  this  is  the 
very  last  day  we  shall  spend  together,  though 
it  is  also  the  very  first?  And  Aja  looked  at 
her  with  affection:  and  he  laughed  again. 
And  he  said:  Sweet  wife,  since  thou  art  so 
very  certain,  then  as  it  must  be,  let  it  be.  What 
care  I  for  to-morrow,  if  I  am  mth  thee  all 
to-day?  Knowing  that  but  an  hour  ago,  when 
first  I  saw  thee,  I  would  have  given  my  life, 

»  This  waa  the  privilege  of  kings'  daughters. 


176  A  Haunted  Beauty 

doubly  dear  as  it  was  by  reason  of  its  recent 
escape  from  death,  to  win  from  thee  a  little 
love,  even  a  very  little.  But  as  it  is,  a  single 
day  is  life  enough,  provided  it  is  spent  with 
thee,  even  though  I  were  really  destined  never 
to  see  another. 

And  she  looked  at  him  with  wistful  eyes; 
and  after  a  while,  she  said:  Thou  art  brave, 
and  as  I  would  have  had  thee.  And  thou  dost 
not  believe  me:  and  it  may  be,  it  is  better  so. 
And  then  she  turned  to  the  King,  and  said: 
O  father,  go  away  now:  and  leave  me  alone 
with  my  husband.  And  be  not  afraid,  either 
for  thy  honour  or  my  own,  for  there  shall  be 
as  it  were  a  sword  between  us.  But  I  wish  to 
have  him  all  to  myself,  until  the  end.  And 
when  the  time  has  come,  let  the  gong  be 
sounded,  and  I  will  send  him  out  to  thee,  and 
thou  canst  show  him  the  way  to  death.  And 
thereupon  the  old  King  went  away  as  she 
desired,  moaning  and  muttering,  and  wring- 
ing his  hands  with  grief. 

So  when  he  was  gone,  those  two  lovers  sat 
together  all  day  long,  gazing  at  each  other 


A  Haunted  Beauty  177 

like  the  sunflower  and  the  sun.  And  he  ut- 
terly forgot  the  morrow,  but  it  never  left  her 
mind,  even  for  a  single  instant.  And  she 
made  him  relate  to  her  his  whole  life  from  the 
very  beginning,  drinking  in  his  words,  and 
hanging  on  his  lips,  and  watching  him  keenly, 
with  eyes  that  never  left  his  face,  holding  all 
the  while  his  hand,  with  the  grasp  of  one  who 
knows  that  her  husband  must  be  led  to  execu- 
tion in  the  evening.  And  she  said  to  herself, 
at  every  moment:  Still  he  is  here:  still  he  is 
here.  And  when  the  sun  set,  she  sent  for  food 
and  delicacies  and  wine,  and  fed  him  like  a 
child  with  her  own  hand,  tasting  herself  no- 
thing. And  she  surfeited  him  with  the  honey 
of  her  sweetness  and  the  syrup  of  her  kisses 
and  the  nectar  of  the  young  new  moon  of 
beauty  bathed  in  the  sun  of  love,  the  redder  * 
because  of  its  approaching  set.  And  all  at 
once,  she  started  to  her  feet,  in  the  very  middle 
of  a  caress.  And  she  stood,  listening.  And 
Aja  listened  also:  and  he  heard  in  the  silence 
the  sound  of  a  gong. 

>  A  play  on  words  :  meaning  also  more  affectionate. 
12 


178  A  Haunted  Beauty 

So  as  he  watched  her,  she  turned  paler  and 
ever  paler,  like  the  east  at  the  break  of  dawn. 
And  she  put  her  two  hands  together,  and 
pressed  them  tight  against  her  heart,  and  then 
against  her  brow.  And  all  at  once,  she  came 
quickly  to  him,  and  said  in  a  low  voice:  It  is 
time.  And  she  took  his  head  in  her  hands, 
and  kissed  him,  with  lips  that  were  cold  as  ice, 
and  yet  hot  as  fire,  first  on  the  eyes,  and  then 
on  the  mouth,  and  last  of  all  upon  the  brow. 
And  then  she  took  his  hand,  and  held  it  for 
a  little  while,  with  a  clutch  that  almost  hurt 
him,  gazing  at  him  with  thirsty  eyes.  And 
suddenly,  she  threw  away  his  hand,  and  pushed 
him  away  roughly,  saying:  Go.  But  Aja 
caught  her  in  his  arms,  and  kissed  her  yet 
again,  as  it  were  against  her  will.  And  he 
said:  O  fearful  heart,  be  not  afraid.  Very 
soon,  I  will  return.  And  he  went  away 
quickly,  but  at  the  door  he  turned,  and  saw 
her  standing  still,  watching  him  with  dry  bright 
eyes,  and  lips  that  were  shut  tight.  And  at 
that  very  moment,  the  old  King  took  him  by 
the  arm,  and  said:  Come  now,  and  I  will  show 


A  Haunted  Beauty  179 

thee  the  way  by  which  all  thy  predecessors 
went  before  thee. 

Then  Aja  said:  O  King,  I  am  unarmed. 
Give  me  a  weapon  to  carry  with  me.  So  the 
King  took  him  into  the  armoury,  and  he  chose 
for  himself  a  sword  almost  as  long  as  he  was 
tall.  But  he  threw  away  the  scabbard,  say- 
ing: This  would  only  be  in  the  way:  and  now 
I  am  prepared.  And  then  the  King  led  him 
away,  and  up  a  winding  stair. 

And  when  they  were  at  the  top,  he  stopped. 
And  he  said:  O  son-in-law  that  might  have 
been,  now  fare  thee  well.  And  even  I  feel  it 
harder  to  part  with  thee  than  with  any  of  thy 
predecessors.  Thou  wouldst  have  made  an 
altogether  appropriate  husband  for  my  daugh- 
ter, and  O!  that  thou  couldst  have  seen  her 
dance,  before  thus  disappearing:  but  now  it 
is  too  late,  for  I  doubt  whether  Tumburu  him- 
self could  make  her  dance  to-night,  so  troubled 
did  she  seem  to  be  at  bidding  thee  good-bye. 
Go  out,  now,  through  yonder  door:  and  thou 
wilt  be  more  fortunate  than  all  the  others,  if 
thou  canst  manage  to  return  through  it. 


i8o  A  Haunted  Beauty- 

Then  he  went  back  into  the  palace.  But 
Aja  passed  through  the  door,  and  found  him- 
self on  the  city  wall. 


A  Total  Eclipse 


I8i 


Then  kith  and  kin  and  home  forget,  and  all, 

To  sail  beyond  the  setting  sun,  with  me, 
Where  dead  love's  dreamy  recollections  call 
Across  the  sea. 


S82 


A  Total  Eclipse 
I 

And  he  stood  on  the  edge  of  the  city  wall, 
with  his  naked  sword  in  his  hand.  And  he 
looked  on  this  side  and  on  that,  and  saw  the 
turrets  of  the  city  jutting  out  along  the  wall, 
like  the  huge  black  heads  of  elephants  of  war 
advancing  in  a  line.  And  behind  him  lay  the 
city,  covered  over  with  a  pall  of  black  that  was 
edged  and  touched  with  silver  points  and 
fringes;  and  before  him  the  desert  stretched 
away,  smeared  as  it  were  with  ashes,  under  the 
light  of  the  moon.  And  brave  as  he  was,  his 
heart  beat,  just  a  very  little,  in  expectation 
of  what  was  coming.  And  he  said  to  himself: 
My  father-in-law's  dismissal  was  not  very  re- 
assuring. But  where  then  is  the  danger,  and 
from  what  quarter  is  it  coming,  and  what  form 
will  it  take?    For  here  is  nothing  whatever  to 

183 


1 84  A  Total  Eclipse 

fight  with,  except  the  shadows  cast  by  the 
moon.  Or  is  this  all  merely  a  trick  of  the 
King  to  test  me,  before  which  all  my  pre- 
decessors have  ignominiously  failed?  Yet  no. 
For  were  it  so,  my  wife  would  indeed  be  an 
actress  ^  capable  of  reducing  Tumburu  to  the 
state  of  ashes. 

So  as  he  stood,  waiting,  and  smiling  at  his 
own  thoughts,  it  happened  that  that  daughter 
of  Kirttisena,  whose  jealousy  of  the  King's 
daughter  had  caused  all  the  trouble  in  the 
King's  city,  came  according  to  her  custom  fly- 
ing towards  the  city  wall.  For  every  night 
she  came  to  see  whether  there  was  a  new  suitor. 
And  whenever  she  discovered  one,  she  had  re- 
course to  a  Rakshasa  that  was  bound  to  her 
by  obligations,  who  came  as  soon  as  thought 
of,  and  swallowed  that  unhappy  suitor  whole.^ 
And  now  for  some  time,  no  new  suitor  had  ap- 
peared.    So  as  she  came  flying  in  the  likeness 

'  An  actress  and  a  dancer  are  in  Sanskrit  denoted  by  the  same 
word. 

'  This  method  of  disposing  of  objectionable  suitors  is  unfor- 
tunately not  available  in  Europe.  A  great  swallowing  capacity 
is  a  feature  of  the  species  Rakshasa.  The  "coming  as  soon  as 
thought  of"  (dhydtdgata)  is  the  Indian  equivalent  of  "rubbing 
the  lamp  "  in  the  Arabian  Nights. 


A  Total  Eclipse  185 

of  a  bat,  she  looked  towards  the  city  wall,  ex- 
pecting to  find  it  empty.  And  she  saw,  in- 
stead, Aja,  standing,  leaning  on  his  sword, 
and  smiling,  on  the  very  edge  of  the  wall. 
And  at  the  very  first  glance  at  him,  she  was 
struck  with  stupor,  and  she  fell  that  very  mo- 
ment so  violently  in  love  with  him  ^  that  she 
could  hardly  flap  her  wings,  by  reason  of  the 
fierce  agitation  of  her  heart.  So  she  alighted 
on  the  wall,  a  little  distance  off,  and  remained 
watching  him,  hardly  able  to  breathe  for  emo- 
tion, in  her  own  form  ^  but  surrounding  her- 
self with  a  veil  of  invisibility  to  escape  his 
observation.  And  after  a  while,  she  drew  a 
long  breath,  and  murmured  to  herself:  Hal 
this  is  a  suitor  indeed,  very  different  from  all 
the  others ;  and  rather  than  a  mere  mortal  man, 
he  resembles  the  son  of  Dewaki,^  with  Radha 


« Who  ever  loved  that  loved  not  at  first  sight  f  Every  Oriental 
would  side  with  Shakespeare  in  this  matter  :  love,  in  the  East 
is  not  love,  unless  it  conies  like  a  flash  of  lightning. 

*  This  might  be  either  that  of  a  woman  or  a  snake,  for  the 
Nagas,  to  whom  she  belonged,  waver  between  the  two.  The 
Naga,  it  may  be  weU  to  remind  the  reader,  is  a  being  possessed 
of  magic  powers,  especially  that  of  glamour  or  blearing  the  eye, 
which  appealed  so  powerfully  to  Spenser  and  Sir  Walter  Scott. 

'Krishna,  whose  colour,  it  is  to  be  noted,  is  blue. 


i86  A  Total  Eclipse 

caressing  him  in  the  form  of  the  moonlight  that 
seems  to  cling  affectionately  to  his  glorious 
limbs.  Ha!  he  looks  like  the  tutelary  deity 
of  the  city  come  to  defy  me,  bringing  the  god 
of  love  to  his  aid  in  the  form  of  his  own  mar- 
vellous and  incomparable  beauty.  Aye!  and 
I  feel  that  I  am  defeated  already,  before  the 
battle  has  so  much  as  begun. ,  And  then,  all 
at  once,  a  spasm  of  rage  shot  through  her 
heart,  and  she  turned  pale.  And  she  ex- 
claimed: Ah!  but  I  am  anticipated  by  this  ac- 
cursed King's  daughter,  who  will  rob  me  of 
him,  nay,  has  already  done  it,  by  her  undeni- 
able hateful  beauty,  and  her  priority  of  claim. 
Alas !  alas !  O  why  did  I  not  see  him  first,  before 
her  abominable  loveliness  had  made  an  impres- 
sion on  his  heart?  For  he  is  very  young,  and 
it  must  be,  open  to  the  spell  of  beauty,  and 
artless,  and  sincere.  Ha !  And  suddenly,  she 
started  up,  as  if  an  idea  had  rushed  into  her 
mind.  And  she  stood  for  a  moment,  thinking. 
And  then  she  exclaimed,  with  a  gesture  of 
resolution:  Yes,  I  also  am  beautiful.  Now, 
then,  I  will  efface  her  image  from  his  heart. 


A  Total  Eclipse  187 

and  replace  it  by  my  own.  Now  I  will  assault 
him,  by  all  the  power  of  my  charms/  and  we 
will  see  whether  he  will  be  proof  against  the 
glamour  of  a  beauty  such  as  mine,  multiplied 
and  magnified  by  magic  sorcery  and  fierce  de- 
termination. Aye!  I  will  move  heaven  and 
earth  to  steal  his  heart  from  the  King's  daugh- 
ter, and  turn  Patala  ^  upside  down  to  make 
him  mine  instead  of  hers.  But  if  I  fail?  And 
again  she  turned  deadly  pale.  And  after  a 
while,  a  bitter  smile  curled  over  her  lips.  And 
she  said:  If,  if  I  fail;  no,  but  I  will  not  fail. 
But  if  I  fail,  then,  I  will  take  another  way. 

» In  every  sense  of  the  word  :  mohaidlamdyd  is  stronger  than 
any  English  equivalent. 
'  The  Underworld,  the  home  of  the  snakes. 


II 


So  as  Aja  stood  upon  the  wall,  looking  out 
over  the  desert,  suddenly  all  vanished  from  be- 
fore his  eyes.  And  he  saw  before  him  no  city, 
and  no  desert.  But  he  found  himself  in  a 
dusky  wood,  tliick  with  tall  tamdla  ^  trees,  and 
lit  by  a  light  that  was  neither  that  of  the  sun 
nor  that  of  the  moon.  And  all  around  him 
huge  red  poppies  waved  gently  without  a 
wind,  mixed  with  great  moon-lotuses,  whose 
perfume  went  and  came  by  turns  as  it  hung 
on  the  heavy  air.  And  under  the  shadow  of 
the  black-leaved  trees  large  bats  flew  here  and 
there  with  slow  and  noiseless  flap,  and  on  the 
branches  monstrous  owls  with  topaz  eyes  like 
wheels  of  flame  sat  motionless,  as  if  to  watch. 
And  a  dead  silence  like  that  of  space  whence 
all  three  worlds  have  been  removed  left  Aja 
nothing  else  to  hear  but  the  beat  of  his  own 

A  tree  with  very  black  bark  and  white  blossoms,  dear  to 
erotic  poete,  such  as,  e.g.,  Jayadewa. 

I88 


A  Total  Eclipse  189 

heart.  And  the  hair  rose  up  upon  his  head 
with  sheer  amazement.  And  he  said  to  him- 
self: Ha!  what  new  wonder  is  this,  and  what 
has  become  of  the  city  wall?  And  where  in  the 
world  have  I  got  to  now,  and  how?  Now  let 
me  be  very  wary,  for  the  danger  is  evidently 
coming  near. 

And  as  he  stood,  grasping  his  sword,  pre- 
pared, and  looking  quickly  right  and  left,  sud- 
denly he  saw  a  thing  which  rivetted  his  gaze 
to  it,  as  if  with  an  iron  nail. 
/^A.  little  way  off,  among  the  poppies,  was 
standing  up  Hke  a  lonely  column  all  that  was 
left  of  one  of  the  walls  of  a  ruined  temple, 
whose  fallen  pillars  were  lying  scattered  all 
around  it,  half  concealed  by  creeping  leaves. 
And  as  he  gazed  intently  at  this  upright  frag- 
ment of  a  fallen  wall,  he  saw  upon  it  the  image 
of  a  sculptured  woman,  which  stood  out  so 
distinctly  that  he  could  not  take  his  eyes  from 
it.  And  after  a  while,  he  said  to  himself: 
Surely  that  can  be  no  stone  statue,  but  a  real 
woman  of  flesh  and  blood,  actually  leaning, 
who  knows  why,  against  that  bit  of  a  broken 


igo  A  Total  Eclipse 

wall.  And  he  looked  and  looked,  and  after  a 
while,  filled  with  irresistible  curiosity,  he  went 
nearer,  but  very  slowly,  and  as  it  were  on  his 
guard,  to  see. 

So  as  he  gazed,  wonder  and  admiration 
gradually  crept  into  his  soul,  and  stole  his  re- 
collection unaware.  And  he  became  wholly 
intent  on  the  stone  image,  and  forgetful  of  his 
situation.  And  he  ceased  to  wonder  at  find- 
ing himself  in  the  wood,  so  great  was  his  new 
wonder  at  the  beauty  of  the  woman  on  the 
wall.  And  he  said  to  himself:  Surely  he  was 
a  master  artist,  whoever  he  was,  that  made  this 
woman  out  of  stone,  if  stone  indeed  she  be. 
For  even  now,  near  as  I  am,  I  can  hardly  be- 
lieve she  is  made  of  stone. 

And  the  more  he  looked,  the  more  he  mar- 
velled. For  she  seemed  in  his  eyes  like  a 
frozen  mass  of  lunar  camphor,  moulded  into 
a  female  form,  standing  cold  and  pure  and 
still,  alone  by  herself  in  that  strange  half  light, 
that  hovered  as  it  were  irresolute  between  the 
natures  of  night  and  day.  And  she  stood  with 
her  right  hand  on  her  hip,  which  jutted  out  to 


A  Total  Eclipse  191 

receive  it  like  the  curve  of  a  breaking  wave: 
and  her  bare  right  breast  stood  out  and  shone 
like  a  great  moonlit  sea  pearl,  while  the  other 
was  hiding  behind  the  curling  fold  of  the  pale 
green  garment  that  ran  around  her,  embracing 
her  with  clinging  clasp  like  a  winding  wisp  of 
emerald  foam  fondly  wrapping  the  yielding 
waist  of  Wishnu's  sea-born  wife.  And  she 
was  very  tall,  and  shaped  like  Shri,  and  she 
stood  with  her  head  a  little  bent,  and  her  sight- 
less eyes  fixed  as  it  were  on  empty  space,  just 
as  though  she  were  listening  for  some  expected 
sound.  And  as  he  continued  to  gaze  at  her, 
a  wonder  that  was  almost  horror  crept  into  his 
mind.  For  her  face  was  not  like  that  of  an 
image,  but  rather  resembled  a  mask,  or  the 
face  of  a  very  beautiful  woman,  that  very 
moment  dead.  For  the  colour  seemed  as  it 
were  to  have  only  just  faded  from  her  cheek, 
and  the  blood  seemed  only  just  before  to  have 
left  her  pallid  lips,  and  the  sight  was  as  it 
were  hanging  yet  in  her  great  long  open  eyes, 
that  were  fixed  on  the  distant  sky.  And  he 
stood,  gazing,  as  if  the  very  sight  of  her  had 


192  A  Total  Eclipse 

made    of    him    another    image    like    herself. 

And  then,  at  last,  he  stepped  forward.  And 
he  put  out  his  left  hand,  and  touched  her  with 
his  forefinger  on  the  shoulder  that  was  bare. 

And  instantly,  as  if  his  touch  had  filled  her 
with  a  flood  of  life,  a  shiver  ran  like  quicksilver 
over  her  stony  limbs.  And  as  he  started  back, 
to  watch,  the  colour  came  back  into  her  face, 
and  red  blood  rushed  into  her  lips,  and  deep 
blue  suddenly  filled  her  eyes.  And  the  tresses 
of  hair  around  her  head  turned  all  of  a  sud- 
den a  glossy  black,  that  shone  with  a  blue- 
green  lustre,  as  if  reflecting  the  grassy  sheen 
of  her  winding  robe.  And  her  bosom  lifted 
slowly,  and  fell  again  with  a  deep  sigh.  And 
all  at  once,  she  abruptly  altered  her  position, 
and  her  eyes  fell  straight  on  Aja,  standing 
just  before  her.  And  she  lifted  up,  first  one 
eyebrow,  and  then  the  other,  till  they  formed 
a  perfect  bow,  for  they  joined  each  other  in 
the  middle.  And  she  uttered  a  faint  cry,  as  if 
in  joy,  exclaiming:  Ha!  can  it  be,  and  is  it 
thou?     Or  am  I  dreaming  still? 


Ill 


And  Aja  stood,  staring  at  her  with  stony- 
gaze,  like  a  mirror  of  her  own  surprise.  And 
he  said  to  himself:  Surely  it  is  not  she,  but  I 
myself,  that  am  the  dreamer.  For  here  since 
the  sun  rose  last,  I  have  escaped  the  desert, 
and  found  this  city  without  a  man,  and  ac- 
quired a  bride  of  peerless  beauty:  and  now 
here  is  another,  rising  as  it  were  from  the  dead, 
and  seeming  to  expect  me.  And  he  continued 
standing  silent,  gazing  at  her,  sword  in  hand. 
And  after  a  while,  she  said :  What !  is  my  form, 
then,  so  frightful  as  to  rob  thee  of  thy  tongue? 
Or  art  thou  going  to  use  that  sword  against 
me?  Speak:  but  in  the  meanwhile,  let  me 
see  whether  I  have  lost  the  use  of  my  limbs, 
as  thou  hast  that  of  thy  tongue,  after  so  long 
a  sleep.  And  she  leaped  from  her  little  ped- 
estal, and  moved  a  little  way  here  and  there, 
waving  her  beautiful  arms  about:  and  after 
«»  193  . 


194  A  Total  Eclipse 

a  while,  she  came  back,  and  sat  down  just  be- 
fore him,  on  one  of  the  fallen  pillars  that  were 
lying  about  the  ground.  And  all  the  while 
Aja  watched  her,  as  if  fascinated  by  a  serpent, 
saying  within  himself:  She  moves  like  no- 
thing I  ever  saw,  save  a  panther  or  a  gliding 
snake.  ^  And  then,  all  at  once,  she  again  put 
up  one  eyebrow,  and  said  to  him  with  a  smile: 
Must  I,  then,  actually  tell  thee,  that  I  am 
Natabhrukuti?^  Then  Aja  said:  O  lady,  it 
is  obvious.  For  thy  bent  brow  would  plant 
arrows  even  in  the  heart  of  the  Great  Ascetic. 
And  she  said  again :  O  husband,  is  this  thy  wel- 
come, after  so  long  a  separation? 

And  Aja  bounded,  as  if  bitten  by  a  snake. 
And  he  exclaimed:  Thy  husband!  What  I 
Am  I  then  thy  husband  also?  Does  thy  whole 
sex  want  to  get  me  for  a  husband?  But  O 
thou  beauty  of  bending  brows,  how  can  he  be 
thy  husband,  that  never  saw  thee  in  his  life 
before?     And  only  this  morning,  I  was  still 

« It  is  a  wonderful  thing  to  see  a  cobra  move.  Nothing  can 
describe  it. 

"  That  is,  the  Beauty  of  the  arched  eyebrows.  (Pronounce 
Nat-  to  rhyme  with  but.) 


A  Total  Eclipse  195 

wifeless,  and  a  day  has  not  elapsed,  since  I  be- 
came another's  husband.  And  he  stopped 
short,  again  confounded  at  the  effect  of  his 
own  words.  For  hardly  had  they  passed  his 
hps,  when  Xatabhriikuti  started  up,  swelling 
with  rage  and  con\Tilsed  with  fury,  with  eyes 
that  blazed  hke  fiery  stars.  And  she  ex- 
claimed: Xever!  never!  Xever  shall  she  pos- 
sess thee,  nor  any  other  than  I  myself.  And 
then,  Hke  a  flash  of  lightning,  her  rage  van- 
ished as  quickly  as  it  came.  And  she  looked 
at  him  with  imploring  eyes,  and  said:  Slay 
me  now,  \^dth  thy  long  bright  sword,  and  send 
me  back  to  that  nonentity  out  of  which  thou 
hast  just  recalled  me:  but  speak  not  of  an- 
other woman  in  front  of  me.  Alas!  and  am 
I  all  forgotten?  And  tears  rolled  from  her 
great  blue  eyes,  and  fell  hke  suppliants  at  her 
feet. 

And  Aja  put  up  his  left  hand,  and  tugged 
at  his  hair  in  the  extremity  of  his  amazement. 
And  he  said:  O  thou  strange  offended  lady, 
I  am  utterly  bewildered,  and  resemble  one 
that  has  lost  his  way  at  midnight  in  a  wood. 


196  A  Total  Eclipse 

And  thy  anger  and  thy  grief  are  alike  alto- 
gether incomprehensible.  How  can  I  possibly 
have  forgotten  one,  whom  as  I  just  now  told 
thee,  I  never  saw  in  my  life  before  ?  Then  she 
said:  Nay,  not  in  this  life,  but  the  last.  For 
I  was  the  wife  of  thy  former  birth. 

Then  Aja  laughed,  and  he  said;  O  beauty, 
who  remembers  his  former  birth?  For  like 
every  other  man,  and  like  my  ancestor  the 
sun,  I  have  risen  up  into  light  out  of  the  sea 
of  dark  oblivion,  into  which  I  must  sink  again 
at  last.  And  then  she  looked  at  him  with  a 
deep  sigh.  And  she  said:  Alas!  '  This  is  a 
punishment  indeed,  and  worse  by  far  than  all 
the  rest,  if  after  having  endured  so  long  the 
state  of  a  stone  upon  a  wall,  I  am  again  be- 
come a  woman,  only  to  find  myself  repudiated 
and  all  forgotten,  by  him,  on  whose  account  I 
suffered  all.  Listen,  then,  and  I  will  tell  thee 
the  story  of  thy  former  birth.  It  may  be 
that,  in  the  hearing,  some  scattered  reminis- 
cences will  be  as  it  were  awakened,  to  stir 
again  in  the  dark  lethargy  of  thy  sleeping 
soul. 


IV 


And  then  she  began  to  speak.  And  as  she 
spoke,  she  leaned  forward,  as  she  sat  upon  the 
fallen  pillar,  and  fastened  her  great  eager  eyes 
like  magnets  on  his  own.  And  as  Aja  watched 
them,  they  played  as  it  were  upon  his  heart. 
For  their  colour  wavered  and  changed  and 
faltered,  shifting  ever  from  hue  to  hue,  turn- 
ing golden  and  ruddy  amber,  and  emerald- 
green  and  lotus-blue;  and  over  her  eyes  her 
arching  brows  lifted  and  fell  and  played  and 
flickered,  fixing  his  troubled  soul  like  nails,  and 
rivetting  his  attention,  till  her  singing  voice 
sounded  in  his  head  like  a  distant  tune  crooned 
in  the  ear  of  a  sleepy  man.  And  she  waved 
slowly  her  long  round  arms,  all  the  while  she 
spoke.  And  she  said :  Far  away,  over  the  sea, 
lies  thy  own  forgotten  land,  and  presently  I 
will  tell  thee,  and  even  show  thee,  where  it  is. 
And  there  it  was,  in  our  former  birth,  that 

197 


198  A  Total  Eclipse 

thou  and  I  were  boy  and  girl.  But  thou  wert 
the  son  of  a  mighty  King,  and  I  was  only  a 
Brahmani,  a  poor  man's  daughter,  and  my 
father  was  an  old  ascetic,  far  below  thee  in 
everything  else  but  caste.  And  I  lived  alone 
with  my  old  father,  in  the  very  heart  of  a  great 
forest,  in  a  little  hut  of  bark,  over  which  the 
mdlati  creeper  grew  so  thick  that  nothing  was 
visible  of  that  little  hut,  except  its  door.  And 
then  one  day  I  was  seen  by  thee,  standing  still 
in  that  very  door,  with  my  pitcher  on  my  head : 
as  thou  wert  passing  through  the  wood  to 
hunt  upon  thy  horse.  And  that  moment  was 
like  a  sponge,  that  blotted  from  the  mind  of 
each  everything  but  the  other's  image.  And 
I  made  of  thee  my  deity,  and  forgot  everything 
in  the  three  great  worlds,  for  thee  alone.  And 
thou,  that  day,  didst  clean  forget  thy  hunting : 
or  rather,  the  God  of  Love  showed  thee  game 
of  another  kind,^  and  from  pursuing  thou 
didst  fall  to  wooing  a  quarry  that  wished  for 
nothing  so  much  as  to  be  thy  prey.     And  we 


'  In  Sanskrit,  hunting  and  wooing  can  be  mixed  up  together 
by  plays  on  words. 


A  Total  Eclipse  199 

married  each  other  that  very  day,  which  ah! 
thou  hast  all  forgotten.  What!  dost  thou  not 
remember  how  I  used  to  meet  thee  every  day 
in  the  Httle  hut,  when  my  father  was  away  in 
the  wood  engaged  in  meditation?  What!  hast 
thou  really  all  forgotten  how  it  was  thy  su- 
preme delight  to  bring  me  garments  and 
costly  jewels,  which  I  put  on  for  thy  amuse- 
ment, thy  forest-queen  of  the  little  hut?  Has 
thy  memory  cast  away  every  vestige  of  re- 
miniscence of  thy  old  sweet  love  in  the  httle 
hut?  So  then  it  happened  that  on  a  day  we 
were  together,  blind  and  drunk  with  each 
other's  presence,  shut  within  the  Httle  hut  like 
a  pair  of  bees  in  a  nectared  lotus.  And  I  was 
standing  like  an  idol,  dressed  like  the  queen  of 
a  chakrawarti,^  loaded  with  gold  on  wrists  and 
feet,  with  great  pearls  wound  about  my  neck; 
and  thou  wert  contemplating  me,  thy  crea- 
ture,^ with  intoxication,  and  hard  indeed  it 
was  to  tell  which  of  us  two  was  the  idol,  and 
which  was  the  devotee.     And  as  we  woke  up 

»  An  emperor.    Hindoo  idols  are  dressed  and  undressed,  like 
dolls,  by  their  officiating  priests. 
»  She  means,  he  was  her  Creator. 


200  A  Total  Eclipse 

from  a  kiss  that  lasted  like  infinity,  lo!  my 
father  stood  before  us.  And  he  said  slowly: 
Abandoned  daughter,  that  hast  forgot  thy 
duty  in  thy  passion  for  this  King's  son,  be- 
come what  thou  hast  represented,  an  idol  ^  of 
stone  on  the  wall  of  a  ruined  temple  far  away : 
and  thou,  her  guilty  lover,  fall  again  into  an- 
other birth,  and  be  separated  from  thy  guilty 
love.  Then  being  besought  by  us,  to  fix  some 
period  to  the  curse,  he  said  again:  When  ye 
two  shall  meet  again,  and  thy  husband  in  his 
curiosity  shall  touch  thee  with  his  finger,  she 
shall  regain  her  woman's  state,  and  be  as  she 
was  before.  And  now  all  this  has  come  about, 
exactly  as  he  said.  And  I  have  found  thee 
once  again,  only  to  find  alas!  alas!  that  thou 
hast  left  thy  heart  behind  thee  in  that  old  de- 
hcious  birth. 

'  The  Hindoos  have  no  word,  because  they  have  not  the  idea, 
of  an  idol.  They  call  it  a  god  or  an  image.  Our  word  idol  im- 
plies the  antagonism  to  paganism  involved  in  Christianity,  and 
no  two  books  are  more  alike  than  S.  Augustine's  City  of  God 
and  Ward's  Hindoo  Mythology. 


So  as  he  listened,  Aja's  soul  was  filled  as  it 
were  with  a  mingled  essence  of  wonder  and 
irresolution  and  sheeny  beauty  and  singing 
sound.  For  the  tone  of  her  voice  was  like  a 
lute,  and  before  his  eyes  hovered  a  picture  of 
waving  arms  and  witching  curves,  out  of  which 
her  dreamy  eyes,  from  which  he  could  not  take 
his  own,  seemed  as  it  were  to  speak  to  him  of 
love  reproachful  and  old  regret.  And  all  at 
once,  with  a  violent  effort,  he  roused  himself 
as  if  from  sleep  with  open  eyes.  And  he 
shifted  his  sword  to  the  other  hand,  and  passed 
his  right  across  his  brow.  And  he  said,  in 
some  confusion:  O  thou  strange  and  sweet- 
tongued  woman,  certain  this  much  is,  that  I 
am  filled  by  thee  with  emotion  that  I  do  not 
understand.  And  yet  I  know  not  what  to 
think,  or  even  say.  For  even  apart  from  the 
promptings  of  a  former  birth,  thy  beauty  and 

201 


202  A  Total  Eclipse 

thy  haunting  voice,  which  I  seem  as  it  were  to 
have  heard  before,  are  quite  sufficient  to  rouse 
emotion  even  in  a  stone,  much  more  in  a  man 
of  flesh  and  blood. 

Then  she  shook  her  head  sadly,  looking  at 
him  with  glistening  eyes;  and  she  said,  with  a 
smile  of  ineffable  sweetness:  Ah!  this  is  as  I 
thought,  and  the  instinct  of  thy  former  birth 
is  clouded  over  and  effaced,  by  thy  meeting 
with  this  other  woman  in  the  morning  of  this 
very  day.  Alas!  hoM^  small,  how  very  small, 
the  interval  of  space  and  time  that  divides  the 
paradise  of  joy  from  the  dungeon  of  despair! 
For  had  this  our  reunion  been  sooner  by  only 
a  single  day,  I  should  have  caught  thy  heart 
before  it  had  been  occupied  by  this  all  too  for- 
tunate other  woman,  who  now  holds  it  like  a 
fortress,  garrisoned  by  a  prior  claim.  But 
what  is  this  priority  of  claim?  Can  she,  who 
by  thine  own  confession  has  known  thee  only  a 
single  day,  dare  to  dispute  priority  with  the 
darling   of   thy   former   birth?  ^       Wilt   thou 

>  Though,  in  Europe,  this  insidious  appeal  might  lack  force, 
it  is  otherwise  in  India :  whose  millions  doubt  their  former  birth 


A  Total  Eclipse  203 

break  thy  faith  with  me,  to  keep  thy  faith  with 
her?  Aye!  and  wilt  thou,  after  all,  gain  so 
much  by  the  exchange?  Is  she  beautiful,  then, 
this  other  w^oman?  But  I  am  beautiful,  too? 
And  she  stood  up,  and  looked  at  Aja  with  her 
head  thrown  back  and  proud  eyes,  as  though 
to  challenge  his  condemnation  of  her  own  con- 
summate beauty.  And  she  said  again :  Is  she, 
then,  this  other  beauty,  either  more  faithful  or 
more  beautiful  than  I  am?  Speak,  and  tell  me 
if  thou  canst,  in  what  I  am  inferior,  or  why  I 
am  to  be  despised,  in  comparison  with  her. 

And  Aja  looked  at  her  again,  and  felt 
abashed,  and  half  ashamed,  he  knew  not  why. 
And  he  murmured  to  himself:  She  does  not 
lie:  for  beautiful  she  is  indeed,  and  need  not 
fear  comparison  with  any  woman  in  the  world. 
And  it  may  be,  she  is  partly  right,  and  if  I  had 
met  her  yesterday,  before  my  heart  was  full, 
she  would  have  had  little  difficulty  in  entering 
in  and  capturing  it,  almost  without  resistance. 

no  more  than  they  doubt  their  own  existence.  It  is  not  long 
since  a  woman  in  Cutch  burned  herself  with  her  own  dead  son, 
because,  she  averred,  he  had  been  her  husband  in  her  former 
birth. 


204  A  Total  Eclipse 

And  he  stood  looking  at  her  silently,  uncertain 
what  to  say  or  do,  and  half  inchned  to  pity 
her,  and  half  afraid  of  her  and  of  himself,  ad- 
miring her  against  his  will,  and  as  it  were  con- 
fessing by  his  very  silence  the  power  of  her 
appeal.  For  notwithstanding  the  preoccupa- 
tion of  his  heart,  his  youth  and  his  sex  became 
as  it  were  allies  with  her  against  his  resolution, 
compelling  him  to  acknowledge  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  cunning  god,  and  the  spell  of 
feminine  attraction  incarnate  in  her  form. 

And  she  stood  there  before  him,  for  a  little, 
with  beauty  as  it  were  heightened  by  resentful 
reproach  of  the  slighting  of  itself,  and  the  dis- 
regard of  its  tried  affection.  And  then  all  at 
once  she  sank  down  upon  the  ground,  as  if 
she  were  tired,  and  remained  sitting  among  the 
poppies,  with  her  chin  resting  on  her  left  knee, 
which  she  embraced  with  her  arms,  watching 
him,  and  as  it  were,  waiting  with  humility  and 
patience  for  a  decision  in  her  case.  And  every 
now  and  then,  she  closed  her  eyes,  and  opened 
them  again,  as  if  to  make  sure  that  he  was 
there. 


A  Total  Eclipse  205 

And  Aja  looked  round  in  the  silence,  at  the 
poppies  and  the  lotuses,  and  the  great  owls 
that  seemed  to  watch  him,  and  back  again  at 
her.  And  his  head  began  to  whirl,  and  he 
muttered  to  himself :  Is  this  a  dream,  and  what 
does  it  all  mean?  And  is  she  returning  to  the 
condition  of  an  image,  disgusted  by  my  cold- 
ness and  disdain?  And  what  is  to  be  done? 
And  he  looked  at  her  face,  deprived,  by  the 
closing  of  their  lids,  of  the  moon  of  her  eyes, 
and  resting  like  a  mask  upon  its  chin.  And 
he  said  within  himself:  Her  eyebrows  move, 
as  if  they  were  alive.  And  he  felt  as  it  w^ere 
unable  to  look  away  from  them:  and  at  last, 
annoyed  with  himself,  he  closed  his  eyes  also, 
as  though  to  escape  their  persecution. 


VI 


And  then,  he  said  to  himself :  This  is  coward- 
ice, and  after  all,  no  refuge;  for  I  seem  to  see 
her  still,  through  the  shutters  of  my  lids.  And 
he  opened  his  eyes  once  more.  And  instantly, 
he  leaped  from  the  ground  like  a  wounded 
stag,  with  a  cry.  For  the  wood,  with  all  its 
lotuses  and  poppies,  was  gone.  And  in  its 
place,  he  saw  before  him  a  forest  with  its  great 
green  trees  all  lit  by  the  shining  of  the  sun. 
And  just  in  front  of  him  there  stood  a  little 
hut,  buried  in  the  blossom  of  the  mdlati 
creeper.  And  in  its  doorway  was  standing  a 
young  Brahman  woman,  with  a  pitcher  on  her 
head.  And  she  beckoned  to  him  with  a  smile, 
and  he  looked,  and  lo!  it  was  Natabhriikuti. 
Then  moved  as  if  against  his  will,  on  feet  that 
carried  him  towards  her  as  it  were  of  their 
own  accord,  he  approached  her.  And  as  he 
drew  nearer,  there  came  from  that  creeper  a 

206 


A  Total  Eclipse  207 

wave  of  perfume,  resembling  that  of  jasmine, 
but  sweeter,  and  so  pungent  that  it  entered 
like  fire  into  his  soul.  And  then  she  lifted  the 
pitcher  from  her  head,  and  set  it  down  upon 
the  ground,  and  caught  him  by  the  hand,  and 
drew  him  within  the  hut.  And  there  she  cast 
herself  into  his  arms,  whispering  in  his  ear, 
very  low,  so  as  to  caress  it  as  she  spoke  with 
her  lips:  My  father  is  away,  and  now  we  are 
alone,  and  the  day  is  all  before  us.  Come  now, 
what  shall  I  do  for  thy  delight?  And  she  ran 
and  shut  the  door;  and  then,  taking  from  a 
chest  rich  clothes  and  splendid  jewels,  she  be- 
gan to  put  them  on,  saying  as  she  did  so :  See ! 
am  I  becoming  more  fit  to  be  thy  queen?  And 
he  watched  her,  stupefied,  like  one  in  a  dream, 
and  all  the  while  she  bathed  him  with  intoxicat- 
ing side  glances  shot  like  arrows  from  the  bow 
of  her  arching  brows.  And  at  last,  she  came 
slowly  towards  him,  walking  on  tip-toe,  and 
attitudinising,  placing  herself  exactly  in  the 
posture  in  which  he  had  seen  her  first  among 
the  poppies  on  the  wall,  with  one  hand  on  her 
hip.     And  she  said,  lifting  her  brow,  with  a 


2o8  A  Total  Eclipse 

smile  that  stole  his  reason :  'Now,  then,  the  idol 
is  ready  for  the  devotee.  And  at  that  mo- 
ment the  door  opened,  and  an  old  Brahman 
entered  through  it.  And  he  said  slowly: 
Abandoned  daughter,  that  hast  forgot  thy 
duty  in  thy  passion  for  this  King's  son,  be- 
come what  thou  hast  represented,  an  idol  of 
stone  on  the  wall  of  a  ruined  temple  far  away ; 
and  thou  her  guilty  lover,  fall  into  another 
birth,  and  be  separated  from  thy  guilty  love. 

And  then,  Aja  heard  no  more.  The  world 
whirled  around  him;  the  blackness  of  night 
closed  over  his  soul;  he  uttered  a  terrible  cry, 
and  fell  to  the  ground  in  a  swoon. 


VII 

And  when  he  came  to  himself,  he  was  back 
again  among  the  poppies  in  the  tamdla  wood. 
And  he  was  lying  on  the  ground,  with  Nata- 
bhriikuti  bending  over  him,  holding  him  by  the 
hand,  with  anxiety  in  her  eyes.  And  instantly 
he  started  up,  and  seizing  his  sword,  stood  gaz- 
ing at  her  with  stupefaction.  And  he  said  to 
himself:  Am  I  dead  or  dreaming?  And  what 
does  it  all  mean?  Is  it  a  delusion  of  the  Crea- 
tor, or  a  mirage  and  a  madness  of  the  desert, 
out  of  which  I  have  never  yet  escaped  at  all? 
Aye!  beyond  a  doubt,  I  am  wandering  still  in 
the  waste  of  sand,  raving  mad,  and  dying,  and 
haunted  by  phantoms  that  are  the  premonitors 
of  approaching  death. 

So  as  he  stood,  balancing  in  the  swing  of 
perplexity,  and  doubting  his  own  reason, 
Natabhriikuti  looked  at  him  fixedly,  with  con- 
cern and  affection  and  curiosity  in  her  eyes. 
14  209 


2IO  A  Total  Eclipse 

And  she  said:  Surely  thou  art  ill.  And  why- 
then  dost  thou  shrink  from  me,  as  though  I 
were  a  thing  of  terror :  I,  who  ask  for  nothing 
but  to  tend  thee  all  my  hfe?  For  it  was  but 
now,  as  we  spoke  together  in  this  wood,  I 
looked  up  and  saw  thee  suddenly  close  thy 
eyes.  And  as  I  watched  thee,  wondering  to 
see  thee  sleeping  as  it  were  erect,  there  burst 
from  thy  lips  a  fearful  cry,  and  I  had  but  time 
to  catch  thee  falling,  and  let  thee  sink  upon 
the  ground.  And  I  brought  thee  to  thyself, 
by  fanning  thee,  as  well  as  I  might,  with  this 
great  leaf. 

And  she  held  it  up  before  him,  while  he  con- 
tinued to  gaze  at  her  in  silence.  And  as  he 
did  not  speak,  she  looked  at  him  curiously,  and 
muttered  under  her  breath,  as  though  speaking 
to  herself,  and  not  intending  him  to  hear :  Can 
he  have  suddenly  recollected  his  former  birth, 
and  is  this  the  reason  why  he  is  staring  at  me, 
as  if  wishing  to  compare  me  with  a  picture  in 
his  head?  And  as  he  still  kept  silence,  pres- 
ently she  said  aloud:  Dear,  thou  art  sick:  and 
much  in  need  of  medicines,  such  as  I  alone  can 


A  Total  Eclipse  211 

give  thee.  Why  wilt  thou  not  confide  in  me? 
For  I  am  a  cunning  leech,  and  know  the  vir- 
tue of  every  herb  and  every  vegetable  drug 
better  than  Dhanwantari^  himself.  And  I 
have  made  myself  mistress  of  every  species  of 
the  art  of  heahng,  and  in  particular,  I  have  fed 
myself  on  perfumes,  and  on  the  essences  of 
flowers,  and  all  the  scented  odours  of  aromatic 
shrubs,  till  I  have  myself  become  as  it  were  a 
very  attar,  incarnate  in  a  woman's  form.  Dost 
thou  doubt  it,  and  think  me  to  be  boasting? 
then  try  me,  and  I  will  prove  to  thee  my 
power  by  experiment,  in  any  way  thou  wilt. 
I  will  soothe  and  shampoo  ^  thee  with  a  hand 
softer  than  a  snowflake's  fall  and  cooler  than 
the  icy  moon:  or,  if  thou  wilt,  I  will  croon  to 
thee  old  airs,  and  put  thee  to  sleep  like  a  tired 
child,  resting  thy  head  on  this  bosom  which 
once  was  thy  delight,  with  melodies  that  shall 
speak  to  thee  of  drowzy  bees  and  moaning 
winds:  or  I  will  steal  thy  waking  senses  from 
thee  and  lure  them  into  slumber  as  it  were 

'  The  physician  of  the  gods,  the  Hindoo  -lEsculapius. 
^  The  Samwdhanam  is  one  of  those  old  Hindoo  medical  re- 
Bources  which  we  have  only  recently  been  wise  enough  to  copy. 


212  A  Total  Eclipse 

against  thy  will  by  snaring  them  with  fra- 
grances more  luscious  than  that  pdrijdta  blos- 
som, which  Wishnu  once  trailed  through  the 
intoxicated  world,  to  drive  it  into  madness  at 
the  moment,  and  leave  it  filled  with  inconsol- 
able regret  when  it  was  gone.  See,  take  this, 
and  smell  it,  and  thou  wilt  be  better  even  now. 
And  she  held  out  towards  him,  in  the  lotus 
of  her  hand,  a  tiny  flower,  in  colour  like  an 
atom  of  the  concentrated  essence  of  the  sky. 
And  as  Aja  looked  at  it,  there  came  from  it  a 
stream  of  a  sharp  and  biting  scent,  that  rushed 
into  his  soul,  coming  laden  as  it  were  with 
reminiscence  and  suggestions  of  the  past;  so 
that  he  said  to  himself:  Ha!  of  what  does  this 
remind  me,  and  where  is  it  that  I  smelled  its 
almost  intolerable  sweet  before?  And  sud- 
denly, the  little  hut  rushed  into  his  mind,  and 
he  exclaimed :  It  is  the  very  smell  of  the  creeper 
on  its  roof.  And  instantly,  a  feeling  of 
amazement  that  almost  overcame  him,  mingled 
with  terror,  crept  like  a  shudder  over  his  hmbs, 
and  his  hair  stood  on  end.  And  he  looked  at 
Natabhrukuti,  who  was  watching  him  intently, 


A  Total  Eclipse  213 

and  said,  hoarsely :  Who  art  thou,  thou  strange 
beauty,  and  what  dost  thou  want  of  me  ?  And 
what  is  the  meaning  of  these  inexplicable  mys- 
teries, before  which  I  feel  as  if  my  reason  were 
deserting  me,  and  I  were  about  to  faint  again? 


VIII 

Then  she  laughed,  and  said:  Fair  boy,  I 
am  only  that  bitter-sweet,^  a  woman:  and  I 
want  no  more  than  what  every  woman  wants, 
the  man  she  loves,  and  that  is  thou.  Aye!  dost 
thou  ask  me,  who  and  what  I  am?  Listen 
then,  and  I  will  tell  thee.  I  am  a  bee,  which 
not  like  other  bees  roams  roving  to  flower  af- 
ter flower,  but  confines  itself  exclusively  to 
one.  I  am  a  breeze,  which  not  like  other 
breezes  blows  fickle  and  inconstant  now  hither 
and  now  thither,  but  is  fixed  and  ever  steady, 
coming  straight  from  Malaya  laden  with  the 
sandal  of  affection  to  lay  it  at  thy  feet.  I  am 
only  the  echo  of  a  voice  which  is  thyself,  the 
shadow  of  a  substance  and  the  reflection  of  a 
sun.  I  am  like  the  other  half  of  the  god  that 
carries  the  moon  upon  his  head,  the  twin,  the 
duplicate  and  counterpart  of  a  deity  who  is 

>  Wishdmritam:  lit.  poison-nectar. 
214 


A  Total  Eclipse  215 

thou.  I  am  Rati,  rejoicing  to  find  again  the 
body  of  her  husband,  and  thou  art  Love  him- 
self returned  to  life  whom  I  have  found.  I 
am  an  essence  of  the  ocean,  but  unlike  it,  I 
hold  within  my  heart  not  many  pearls,  but 
only  one,  which  is  thyself.  I  am  a  wick,  con- 
suming in  thy  flame,  and  like  the  music  of  a 
lute,  I  am  a  thing  wholly  compounded  of 
melodies  and  tones,  whose  mood  and  being  are 
dependent  on  the  player,  who  is  thou.  Art 
thou  sad?  then  I  am  also:  art  thou  joyous?  so 
am  I:  my  soul  is  tossed  about,  and  hangs  on 
thy  smiling  or  thy  sighing,  as  a  criminal  de- 
pends on  the  sentence  of  the  judge.  And  like 
a  crystal,  I  am  colourless  ^  without  thee,  but 
ready  on  the  instant  to  assume  every  tinge  of 
the  colour  of  thyself.  Cast  thy  eyes  upon 
me,  and  thou  shalt  see  as  in  a  glass  thy  every 
mood  painted  on  the  surface  of  my  face.  Ah! 
dost  thou  ask  me  what  I  am?  Alas!  I  am  a 
target  for  the  poisoned  arrows  which  Love 
shoots  at  me  in  the  form  of  thy  beauty  greater 
than  his  own.     And  I  am  like  a  bare  and  with- 

1  Also  means  vnthout  affection. 


2i6  A  Total  Eclipse 

ered,  leafless  and  frost-bitten  tree,  which  has 
suddenly  shot  up  into  blossom  at  the  coming 
of  spring  in  thy  form.     But  as  for  thee,  why, 

0  why  dost  thou  regard  me  that  live  for  only 
thee  as  if  I  were  a  deadly  snake,  and  thou  a 
startled  deer?  In  vain,  in  vain,  dost  thou  en- 
deavour to  repel  me,  for  I  will  not  be  repelled. 

1  will  melt  thy  cold  ice  in  thy  despite,  by  the 
fire  of  my  affection,  and  drown  thee  in  its 
flood,  and  sweep  thee  away  from  the  rocks  of 
thy  resistance  till  thou  art  lost  for  ever  in  its 
dark  and  pearly  depths. 

And  as  Aja  stood,  listening  in  confusion  to 
her  words,  which  poured  from  her  like  a  tor- 
rent, suddenly  she  clapped  her  hands,  and  ex- 
claimed, as  he  started  again  at  her  vehemence: 
Ha!  shall  I  tell  thee,  thou  wilful  and  reluctant 
boy,  of  what  thou  dost  remind  me,  standing  as 
it  were  aghast,  and  obstinately  set  against  me, 
mute,  and  yet  asking  what  I  am?  Know,  that 
long  ago  there  was  a  king,  who  had  for  wives 
a  thousand  queens.  And  it  happened  that 
one  day,  he  went  with  his  wives  to  ramble  in 
the  heart  of  a  forest.     So  after  sporting  for  a 


A  Total  Eclipse  217 

while,  he  grew  tired,  in  the  heat  of  the  day,  and 
lay  down  and  fell  asleep.  Then  all  his  queens 
stole  away  and  left  him  lying,  and  went 
roaming  up  and  down,  very  strange  creatures 
in  that  wild  rough  wood,  looking  like  living 
flowers  of  every  hue  and  kind,  that  had  some- 
how or  other  got  free  from  their  roots,  a  body 
of  deer-eyed  decoys  let  loose  by  Love  the 
Hunter,  to  lure  into  his  toils  every  man  that 
should  behold  them.  So  as  they  rambled  here 
and  there,  they  came  suddenly  on  an  old  as- 
cetic. And  he  was  standing  still,  half  buried 
in  the  hills  of  ants,  themselves  covered  over 
by  his  long  white  hair,  immersed  in  meditation. 
Then  all  those  fair  women  went  up  and  stood 
around  him  in  a  cluster  of  beautiful  curiosity, 
wondering  at  the  sight  of  him,  and  asking 
each  other  in  amazement,  what  in  the  world  he 
could  possibly  be.  So  as  they  crowded  round 
him,  that  old  ascetic  emerged  from  his  trance, 
and  as  thou  art  doing,  stood  silent  and  aghast, 
thinking,  as  perhaps  thou  dost  thyself,  that 
Indra  must  have  sent  him  all  the  nymphs  of 
Jieaven  in  a  body,  to  lure  him  from  the  path  of 


2i8  A  Total  Eclipse 

liberation.  For,  O,  thou  beautiful  suspicious 
youth,  what  is  there  so  terrible  about  me,  as 
to  cause  thee  to  shrink  from  my  approach? 
Know,  that  many  would  be  glad  to  be  wooed 
as  was  that  old  ascetic,  and  as  thou  art  now. 


IX 

And  then,  Aja  strove  to  awake  as  it  were 
from  a  dream.  And  he  shook  himself,  as  if 
to  shake  it  off,  and  he  said  to  himself:  I  feel 
that  I  am  falling  as  it  were  a  victim  to  the 
spell  of  this  passionate  and  subtle  beauty;  and 
now,  unless  I  stiffen  and  steel  myself  against 
her,  I  shall  undoubtedly  be  bewitched  and  be- 
guiled beyond  the  possibility  of  escape.  And 
he  summoned  his  resolution,  and  said,  with  a 
semblance  of  composure:  Fair  one,  thou  dost 
thyself  no  injustice  in  comparing  thyself  alone 
to  a  thousand  queens:  for  thou  art  a  very  in- 
carnation of  all  the  bewildering  fascination  of 
thy  sex.  And  yet,  potent  as  they  are,  thy 
charms  are  wasted,  and  resemble  blunted  ar- 
rows when  directed  against  me.  For  as  I 
have  already  told  thee,  I  am  pledged  to  an- 
other, and  proof  against  thy  spell,  as  doubt- 
less was  thy  old  ascetic  against  that  bevy  of 

straying  queens. 

219 


220  A  Total  Eclipse 

And  then  Natabhriikuti  smiled,  and  she 
shook  at  him  her  finger,  as  she  answered: 
Rash  boy,  beware  I  Be  not  too  sure  of  the 
adamantine  quality  of  thy  resistance,  nor  even 
of  thy  wisdom  in  resisting  me  at  all.  And  be- 
ware of  provoking  the  indignation  of  slighted 
Love,  who  may  make  of  thee  a  signal  example 
of  his  vengeance.  Take  care,  lest  annoyed 
with  thy  obstinacy  in  rejecting  what  he  offers 
thee  for  nothing,  he  should  deprive  thee  even 
of  that  other  beauty,  on  whose  account  alone 
it  is  that  I  am  held  by  thee  so  cheap.  Poor 
youth!  but  that  my  lips  are  tied,  I  could  en- 
lighten thee.  Art  thou,  who  art  so  ready 
lightly  to  disdain  me,  art  thou,  I  say,  so  sure, 
so  very  sure,  that  thou  art  thyself  the  only 
lover  of  this  much  married  beauty,  whom  thou 
sawest,  as  thou  sayest,  for  the  very  first  time 
in  thy  life  to-day?  Art  thou  so  sure,  so  very 
sure,  that  she  is  not  deceiving  thee,  and  that 
thou  art  not  merely  the  last  of  the  many 
lovers  whom  she  toys  with  for  a  moment,  and 
then  carelessly  casts  away?  Art  thou  so  very 
certain  that  thou  hast  never  had  a  predecessor? 


A  Total  Eclipse  221 

And  Aja  started,  in  spite  of  himself.  For  the 
word  recalled  to  him  the  manner  of  the  old 
King.  And  Natabhrukuti  saw  it.  And  she 
looked  at  him  as  it  were  with  compassion,  and 
said:  Alas,  unhappy  boy:  thou  seest  that  in 
thy  youth  and  inexperience  such  an  idea  had 
not  occurred  to  thee.  Little  art  thou  quali- 
fied to  cope  with  a  woman's  guile. 

Then  said  Aja  fiercely,  in  wrath  both  with 
himself  and  her:  It  is  false,  and  she  is  true. 
But  Natabhrukuti  answered  very  gently:  Be 
not  angry,  for  I  do  not  question  that  she  loves 
thee.  I  do  not  even  doubt  it:  for  if  she  did 
not,  she  would  be  a  fool.  But  listen,  and 
learn,  what  thou  dost  not  seem  to  know,  that 
Love  is  a  Master  Knave ;  aye !  by  far  the  great- 
est master  of  deceit  in  the  three  great  worlds. 
And  woman  is  his  aptest  pupil,  and  every 
woman  living,  were  she  even  as  simple  as  thy- 
self, becomes,  as  soon  as  she  falls  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Love,  a  very  incarnation  of  policy 
and  craft  and  wiles.  I  tell  thee,  foolish  boy, 
that  she  that  loves  in  earnest,  were  she  good 
as   gold,   pure   as   snow,   and   flawless   as   a 


222  A  Total  Eclipse 

diamond,  would  plunge,  to  gain  her  object,  to 
the  very  lowest  bottom  of  the  ocean  of  deceit. 
And  what  is  her  object  but  the  esteem  of  her 
lover?  Dost  thou  think  she  would  balance  for 
an  instant,  between  her  lover  and  the  ruin  of 
the  world?  between  his  good  opinion,  and  a 
lie?  Dost  thou  think  she  would  forfeit  thy 
esteem,  when  to  deceive  thee  would  preserve 
it?  I  tell  thee,  in  such  a  dilemma,  she  would 
lie,  till  the  very  sun  at  noon  hid  his  face  out  of 
shame.  Know,^  that  long  ago  there  lived  at 
Waranasi  ^  an  independent  lady,  of  beauty 
so  extraordinary,  that  swarms  of  lovers  used 
to  buzz  continually  about  her  like  great  black 
bees  about  the  mango  blossom  in  the  spring. 
But  independent  though  she  was,  she  was  so 
fastidious,  that  none  of  her  innumerable  lovers 
ever  touched  her  heart  even  for  a  moment. 
And  hence  she  lived  like  a  lamp  at  midnight 
surrounded  by  the  corpses  of  her  victims,  who 

>  In  all  Oriental  stories,  statements  are  proved  not  by  Aris- 
totelian syllogism,  but  by  "instances":  and  we  are  reminded 
of  the  opinion  of  the  artful  Retz,  that  "one  never  persuades 
anybody,  hut  anybody  can  insinuate  anything.'" 

2  Benares.  The  lady  in  question  was  one  of  those  Hindoo 
Aspasias  of  whom  many  similar  stories  are  told. 


A  Total  Eclipse  223 

fluttered  about  her  lustre  and  perished  in  its 
flame.  And  then  at  last,  one  day  it  came 
about  that  a  tall  young  Rajpoot  almost  as 
beautiful  as  thou  art  arrived  at  Waranasi. 
And  Kashayini  ^  (for  that  was  her  name)  saw 
him  from  a  window  as  he  came  into  the  city; 
and  instantly  like  an  empty  pitcher  suddenly 
plunged  into  the  Ganges,  she  was  filled  to 
the  very  brim  by  the  inrush  of  Love's  sacred 
nectar.  And  she  said  to  herself:  The  very 
first  thing  that  he  will  hear  of  in  the  city  is 
myself.  And  like  everybody  else,  he  will 
come  immediately  to  see  me:  and  that  very 
moment,  I  shall  abandon  the  body  out  of 
shame.  For  though  my  beauty  might  attract 
him,  yet  he  will  be  convinced  that  many  lovers 
have  preceded  him,  and  therefore,  at  the  bot- 
tom of  his  heart  he  will  despise  me.  And  this 
would  be  worse  than  any  death.  And  yet 
without  him,  my  birth  will  have  been  in  vain. 
Therefore,  I  must  devise  some  expedient.  So 
after  a  while,  she  went  out  in  disguise,  and 
bought  for  a  large  sum  of  money  the  body  of 

»  Which  we  might  translate  Aromatic  :  it  includes  the  ideas 
of  red  colour  and  pungent  perfume. 


224  A  Total  Eclipse 

a  woman  of  her  own  age  and  size  who  had  died 
that  very  day.  And  bringing  that  body  home 
secretly  at  night,  she  dressed  it  in  her  own 
clothes,  and  burned  it  till  its  identity  was  ob- 
literated. And  then  she  set  fire  to  her  house, 
and  left  it  by  a  back  door,  and  went  away, 
abandoning  all  her  wealth  but  the  jewels  that 
she  wore,  for  the  sake  of  her  picture  in  the 
air.^  And  at  that  very  moment,  the  Rajpoot 
came  along,  led  by  some  of  the  townspeople 
to  visit  her,  as  it  were  set  on  fire  by  the  very 
description  of  her  beauty.  And  he  looked 
and  saw  the  flames  bursting  from  her  house, 
as  though  lit  by  himself.  And  they  found  the 
half  burned  body  in  the  ashes,  and  immedi- 
ately all  the  lovers  of  Kashayini  followed  her 
through  the  fire  of  grief  to  the  other  world. 
But  the  Rajpoot  managed,  in  spite  of  disap- 
pointment, to  remain  aHve.  And  she,  in  the 
meantime,  having  given  every  one  the  slip, 
found  a  false  ascetic,  and  bribed  him  with 
jewels,  giving  him  instructions  without  letting 
him  know  who  she  was.     So  that  ascetic  went 

>  Or,  as  we  say,  castle  in  the  air. 


A  Total  Eclipse  225 

and  struck  up  acquaintance  with  the  Rajpoot, 
pretending  to  be  a  discoverer  of  treasure.^ 
And  he  performed  incantations,  and,  after  a 
while,  he  said  to  him:  Go  quickly  to  Ujjayini, 
and  dig  in  the  north-east  corner  of  the  burn- 
ing ground  outside  the  city  on  the  very  last 
day  of  the  dark  half  of  the  month  of  Magha, 
and  thou  shalt  find  a  treasure.  Take  it,  for 
what  is  the  use  of  treasure  to  such  a  one  as  me. 
Thereupon  that  Rajpoot,  having  nothing  else 
to  do,  went.  And  Kashayini,  having  first  made 
sure  that  the  bait  had  taken,  went  herself 
and  got  there  before  him.  So  when  that  Raj- 
poot arrived,  he  dug  exactly  as  he  was  told, 
and  found  absolutely  nothing.  And  cursing 
his  destiny,  he  went  out  of  the  burning  ground 
in  the  early  morning:  and  as  he  went  along, 
suddenly  he  saw  Kashayini,  who  was  wait- 
ing for  him,  sitting  weeping  by  the  wayside, 
under  a  great  ashwattha  tree:  beautifully 
dressed,  blazing  with  jewels,  and  adorned  with 
saffron  and  antimony,  betel,  indigo,  and  span- 
gles, flowers,  minium,  and  henna,  bangles  on 

1 A  regular  trade  in  medieval  India. 
15 


226  A  Total  Eclipse 

ankle  and  comb  in  her  hair.  And  she  said  to 
that  Rajpoot,  who  was  as  utterly  astounded 
by  the  sight  of  her  as  if  she  had  been  water  in 
the  desert:  O  son  of  a  king,  succour  one  who 
is  utterly  without  resource.  And  when  he 
asked  her,  what  was  the  matter,  she  said:  I 
was  the  only  wife  of  a  very  rich  merchant,  and 
as  we  travelled  from  the  South,  suddenly  we 
were  set  upon  by  a  band  of  Thags.  And  af- 
ter killing  every  one  but  me,^  they  all  went  to 
sleep,  thinking  me  secure ;  but  in  the  middle  of 
the  night,  I  went  a  little  way,  and  hid  myself 
in  a  hollow  tree.  And  in  the  morning  those 
villains,  after  hunting  for  me  in  vain,  all  went 
away,  fearing  a  pursuit,  and  I  came  out  of  the 
tree  trembling,  and  reached  this  road,  and  now 
I  am  alone  in  the  world.  Then  said  the  Raj- 
poot to  himself :  Ha !  so,  after  all,  I  have  found 
my  treasure,  and  that  excellent  ascetic  was  a 
true  prophet.  And  he  said:  O  lady,  I  am  of 
good  family.  And  now,  if  thou  wilt  have  me 
for  a  husband,  I  will  supply  the  loss  of  thy 

'  Everything  in  this  story  is  exactly  in  harmony  with  the 
manners  of  medieval  India.  The  Thags  often  preserved  a 
woman  for  her  beauty,  when  they  murdered  every  one  else. 


A  Total  Eclipse  227 

merchant,  and  all  the  rest  of  thy  relations. 
And  she  feigned  reluctance :  but  after  a  while, 
she  dried  her  tears,  and  consented.  But  that 
Rajpoot  almost  went  out  of  his  mind,  so  great 
was  his  delight.  And  one  day  he  told  her  of 
Waranasi,  and  the  burning  of  Kashayini. 
And  she  looked  at  him  with  laughing  eyes, 
and  said:  O  my  husband,  I  will  make  up  to 
thee  for  the  loss  of  Kashayini:  for  I  am  just 
as  beautiful  as  she. 


X 


And  as  Natabhrukuti  ended,  she  leaned  for- 
ward, and  gazed  at  Aja  with  soft  seductive 
eyes,  till  he  blushed,  and  wavered  before  her 
like  the  flame  of  a  candle  in  a  wind.  For  her 
beauty  bewildered  him,  and  her  cunning  story 
planted,  as  if  against  his  will,  the  seed  of  sus- 
picion in  his  mind.  And  in  spite  of  himself, 
he  said  to  himself :  What  if  it  were  as  she  says, 
and  my  wife,  like  another  Kashayini,  were 
concealing  from  me  something  that  she  shrank 
from  avowing,  lest  I  should  think  the  worse 
of  her.  And  he  turned  pale  at  the  thought, 
that  any  other  lover  should,  even  a  very  little, 
have  occupied  her  heart  before  him.  And  he 
stood  silent,  and  confused,  striving  to  expel 
from  his  mind  the  doubt  that  Natabhrukuti 
had  raised  in  it,  saying  to  himself :  Can  I  really 
be  only  the  last  of  many  lovers?     And  all  the 

228 


A  Total  Eclipse  229 

while  Natabhriikuti  watched  him,  devouring 
him  as  it  were  with  her  eyes.  And  at  last,  she 
said  again:  Sweet  boy,  thou  art  too  young  and 
too  honest  to  cope  with  women,  who  were 
framed  by  the  Creator  to  deceive.  But  Aja 
said  angrily:  Thou  art  thyself  a  woman,  seek- 
ing at  this  very  moment  to  deceive  me:  and  as 
for  thy  age,  it  is  less  than  my  own.  And  she 
said:  Nay,  nay:  I  am  older,  for  I  am  wiser 
than  thyself.  For  when  I  see  my  husband,  I 
remember  him,  but  me  thou  hast  utterly  for- 
gotten, thy  true  and  only  wife.  Ah!  foolish 
one,  thou  hast  forgotten.  And  thou  resem- 
blest  one,  who  casts  away  a  costly  jewel,  for 
the  sake  of  a  bit  of  glass,  shining  only  in  the 
sunlight  of  thy  ignorance,  and  trodden  by  the 
foot  of  every  passing  stranger.  What!  can 
I  do  nothing  to  rouse  thy  recollection?  Look 
at  me  w^ell!  look  hard,  and  it  may  be,  some- 
thing of  me  will  touch  as  it  were  a  chord  in 
thy  soul. 

And  she  came  up  close  to  him,  so  that  the 
warmth  and  fragrance  of  her  beauty  envel- 
oped him  like  an  atmosphere  of  intoxication. 


230  A  Total  Eclipse 

And  she  joined  her  hands,  looking  up  into  his 
face,  as  it  were  compelling  his  reluctant  ad- 
miration by  her  humble  submission  to  his  will. 
And  she  said :  Hast  thou,  hast  thou  indeed  for- 
gotten all?  And  as  he  gazed  at  her,  two  huge 
drops  of  crystal  welled  into  her  eyes,  and  hung 
poised  before  they  fell  on  the  net  of  her  long 
dark  lashes.  And  she  said:  Thou  sayest,  I 
am  seeking  to  deceive  thee.  I  love  thee,  and 
where  is  the  deception?  Is  it  not  rather  thou 
that  art  the  deceiver  in  this  matter?  Is  it  any 
fault  of  mine  if  another  has  stepped  in  to  de- 
fraud me  of  thyself?  Or  am  I  to  be  blamed, 
if  thy  beauty  still  beguiles  me  as  it  did  long 
ago?  And  yet,  dost  thou  accuse  me  as  if  I 
were  a  criminal?  O  blue  black  bee,  what  is 
this  behaviour,  that  thou  seekest  as  it  were  to 
pick  a  quarrel  with  the  poor  red  lotus  who 
loves  thee  but  too  well?  And  she  smiled 
through  her  tears,  and  exclaimed:  Ah!  but  in 
spite  of  thee,  I  will  adore  thee,  whether  thou 
wilt  or  no.  Ha !  and  I  will  compel  thee  to  re- 
member, and  force  my  way  through  every 
barrier  and  obstacle  till  I  reach  the  recoUec- 


A  Total  Eclipse  231 

tion  ^  In  the  bottom  of  thy  heart.  O  canst  thou 
not  remember  the  days  of  long  ago,  when  my 
now  despised  beauty  was  a  joy  to  thee,  and 
my  hair  a  very  net  to  snare  thy  willing  soul, 
and  my  eyes  were  more  to  thee  than  any  dia- 
monds, and  these  two  arms  were  thy  prison 
and  thy  chain,  and  this  agitated  bosom  was  thy 
pillow  on  which  I  lulled  thee  to  slumber  with 
the  music  of  this  very  voice  ?  Hast  thou  really 
forgotten  the  nectar  of  my  kiss?  hast  thou 
actually  forgotten  thy  own  insatiable  thirst? 
Ah!  but  if  thou  hast  forgotten,  I  have  not: 
and  the  innumerable  multitudes  of  thy  too 
delicious  kisses  come  back  to  me,  singing  in 
my  memory,  and  whispering  in  my  soul  like 
the  lisping  of  the  sea.  Hark!  Dost  thou  not 
hear  them  also,  those  voices  of  a  former  birth? 


■  The  reader  should  remember  that  in  Sanskrit,  love  and 
recollection  are  the  same  word. 


XI 


And  as  Aja  gazed  at  her,  stunned  and  al- 
most overcome  by  the  pathos  of  her  irresistible 
appeal,  and  as  it  were  swept  from  his  feet  by 
the  surge  of  her  passion,  suddenly  she  seized 
his  left  hand  with  her  right,  and  stood,  grasp- 
ing it  as  if  convulsively,  with  the  other  hand 
raised,  and  bending  her  head,  as  if  to  listen. 
And  he  listened,  and  lo!  there  sounded  in  his 
ears  a  murmur  resembhng  that  of  the  sea, 
mixed  with  faint  strains  of  music,  and  echoes 
of  indistinguishable  singing  voices  coming  as 
it  were  from  the  ends  of  the  earth.  And  a 
shudder  ran  through  him,  as  she  turned,  and 
looked  at  him  as  if  in  ecstasy,  with  eyes  that 
saw  nothing,  murmuring  in  an  eager  voice 
that  chanted  and  charmed  his  ear  like  the 
rushing  of  a  stream:  Dost  thou  hear  the 
voices,  calling  thee  over  to  the  other  shore? 
For  the  sea  is  the  sea  of  separation,  and  the 

232 


A  Total  Eclipse  233 

other  shore  is  our  former  birth.  Far  away 
over  the  setting  sun  hides  the  red  land  ^  of  our 
old  sweet  love.  And  I  can  take  thee  back  to 
it,  out  of  this  dim  and  dingy  wood.  Only  I 
can  carry  thee  back  to  the  land  beyond  the 
sunset  hill,  where  love  is  lying  dead.  Over 
the  sea  where  monsters  lurk,  and  great  pearls 
grow  in  sunless  deeps,  I  can  carry  thee  back 
again  to  the  land  of  long  ago.  Never  a  ship 
with  a  silken  sail  could  rock  thee  over  across  the 
waves  so  well  as  I  will  waft  thee  there  on  the 
swell  of  this  soft  breast.  Never  a  breeze  from 
the  sandal  hill  could  ferry  thee  over  a  silent 
sea  so  gently  as  will  I,  by  breathing  into  thy 
raptured  ear  tales  of  thy  old  forgotten  past 
with  fond  and  fragrant  lips.  What!  art  thou 
still  oblivious  of  that  old  delicious  birth?  Dost 
thou  never  behold  in  dreams  the  paradise  of 
our  little  hut,  and  slake  again  thy  raging  thirst 
in  a  long  forbidden  kiss?  Does  she  never 
come  back  to  thee,  the  Brahmani  girl  with  a 
face  like  mine,  with  lips  that  laughed  and  eyes 

'  The  Sanskrit  dwipa  has  exactly  the  same  connotation  as 
our  islands  of  the  Blest,  and  like  them  it  is  placed  in  the  set- 
ting sun. 


234  A  Total  Eclipse 

that  shone,  and  a  mango  flower  in  her  hair? 
Say,  dost  thou  never  dream  of  her?  And  she 
shook  his  arm  with  frenzy,  and  exclaimed: 
Hal  wake  from  thy  magic  sleep,  and  tear 
away  the  curtain  that  hides  me  from  thy 
blinded  soul.  I  will,  I  will  awake  thee.  I 
will  not  be  forgotten.  And  all  at  once,  she 
burst  into  a  passion  of  tears.  And  she  reeled, 
as  though  about  to  fall,  and  tottered,  and 
threw  herself,  sobbing  hard,  against  his  breast. 
And  while  she  spoke,  Aja  stood,  like  one 
pushed  to  the  very  edge  of  a  precipice,  pale 
as  death,  and  breathing  hard,  spellbound. 
And  then  at  last,  when  she  threw  herself  upon 
his  breast,  again  a  shudder  ran  through  all  his 
limbs.  And  as  if  her  touch  had  shattered  to 
pieces  the  last  fragment  of  his  resolution,  he 
caught  her  around  the  waist  with  the  one 
arm  that  was  free.  And  with  tears  in  his  own 
eyes,  he  stammered,  as  if  in  the  extremity  of 
desperation,  hardly  knowing  what  he  said: 
Alas!  I  have  been  harsh  to  thee.  O  lovely 
browed  beauty,  cease  to  weep.  Why,  O  why, 
did  I  not  meet  thee  sooner  by  only  a  single  day? 


XII 

And  at  that  very  moment,  he  heard  behind 
him  a  deep  sigh.  And  as  he  turned,  wood, 
poppies,  and  all  vanished  from  before  his  eyes. 
Once  more  he  stood  on  the  city  wall ;  and  there 
before  him  was  the  King's  daughter.  And  she 
was  standing  in  the  doorway  through  which 
he  had  come  upon  the  wall,  leaning  against 
the  open  door,  and  paler  than  Love's  own 
ashes,  while  her  great  dark  eyes  were  frozen 
as  it  were  to  ice,  and  yet  lit  up  by  the  triple  fire 
of  sorrow  and  reproach  and  fierce  disdain. 
And  she  looked  like  the  daughter  of  Janaka, 
when  forsaken  by  the  lord  of  the  race  of  Ra- 
ghu,  and  hke  the  heavenly  Urwashi,  when 
abandoned  by  Pururawas,  a  very  spirit  of  de- 
spair carved  by  the  Creator  into  a  stony  fe- 
male form,  to  break  the  heart  of  the  three 
worlds.  And  as  if  the  very  sight  of  her  had 
broken  the  spell  that  held  him,  reason  and 

235 


236  A  Total  Eclipse 

recollection  suddenly  returned  to  Aja,  as  it 
were  at  a  single  bound.  And  he  woke,  as  if 
from  a  magic  sleep,  and  on  the  instant,  a 
sword  ran  as  it  were  straight  into  his  heart. 
And  with  a  cry,  he  flung  away  his  sobbing 
burden  like  a  blade  of  grass,  not  caring  where 
it  fell:  and  ran  towards  the  King's  daughter. 
But  she,  when  she  saw  him  coming,  shrieked, 
and  started,  and  exclaimed:  Away!  Touch 
me  not,  save  with  the  point  of  thy  sharp  true 
sword,  to  pierce  me  through  the  body  as  thy 
perfidy  has  my  soul. 

Then  Aja  tossed  away  his  sword,  with  a 
shudder,  over  the  edge  of  the  wall.  And  he 
seized  himself  by  the  head  with  both  hands, 
with  a  groan  like  the  roar  of  a  wounded  lion. 
And  he  exclaimed:  Ha!  Better  now  it  had 
been  indeed,  had  I  never  emerged  from  the 
waste  of  sand.  And  he  turned  fiercely  upon 
Natabhrukuti,  saying:  This  is  thy  doing,  thou 
vile  enchantress:  and  now  I  am  indeed  awake. 

But  even  as  he  spoke,  the  words  died  away 
upon  his  Hps;  and  he  stood  still,  like  a  picture 
on  a  wall,  for  wonder  at  what  he  saw  before 


A  Total  Eclipse  237 

him.  For  Natabhrukuti  was  standing  still, 
exactly  where  he  left  her,  bolt  upright,  like  a 
spear  fixed  in  the  earth.  And  her  beauty  was 
greater  than  ever,  and  yet  such,  that  as  he  saw 
it,  his  heart  stopped  in  his  breast.  For  every 
vestige  of  the  nectar  of  her  love-emotion  had 
left  her,  and  in  its  place,  the  poison  of  immor- 
tal hate  shone  in  her  cold  and  evil  eyes,  which 
were  fastened,  as  if  with  a  mixture  of  pain 
and  pleasure,  with  a  glittering  and  fiendish 
stare,  upon  the  King's  daughter.  And  as  he 
watched  them,  cold  ran  in  Aja's  veins.  For 
her  eyes  shook,  and  changed  colour,  and  a  hor- 
rible smile  played  on  her  blue  and  twitching 
Hps.  And  she  looked  thin,  for  her  two  arms 
hung  down  tight  against  her  sides,  and  her 
fingers  opened  and  shut,  slowly,  as  if  of  their 
own  accord. 

And  after  a  while,  she  spoke.  And  she 
turned  to  Aja,  and  said,  in  a  voice  that  re- 
sembled a  hiss:  Fool!  thou  wouldst  not  take 
the  blue  flower  I  offered  thee,  though  its  fra- 
grance could  not  have  been  matched  by  any- 
thing in  the  three  worlds.     Now,  then,  I  will 


238  A  Total  Eclipse 

take  another  way.  So  as  he  watched  her,  she 
was  gone:  and  he  saw  before  him  nothing  but 
the  empty  city  wall. 

And  as  he  looked  again,  not  crediting  the 
testimony  of  his  own  eyes,  he  heard  a  sharp 
cry  from  the  King's  daughter.  And  he 
turned,  and  saw  Yashowati  sinking  to  the 
ground.  And  at  that  very  moment  Nata- 
bhrukuti  stood  again  before  him.  And  she 
looked  at  him  with  strange  eyes,  and  said 
slowly:  Go  now,  and  enjoy  thy  wife.  But  I 
must  give  thee  just  one  kiss,  before  I  go. 

And  as  Aja  looked  into  her  eyes,  suddenly, 
like  a  flash  of  lightning,  he  understood.  And 
he  struck  his  hand  upon  his  brow,  exclaiming: 
Ha !  Now,  now,  I  understand,  too  late.  Thou 
art  that  very  she,  that  was  jealous  of  the  King's 
daughter's  beauty,  and  ruined  her  out  of  spite. 
And  I  have  been  befooled  by  thee,  and  failed 
to  stand  the  test.  And  he  ground  his  teeth 
with  rage,  that  swept  through  him  like  a  storm. 
And  he  said  to  himself:  Alas  I  I  threw  away 
my  sword.  No  matter.  Now,  then,  as  she 
said  herself,  I  will  take  another  way. 


A  Total  Eclipse  239 

And  he  looked  at  her,  as  she  stood  waiting. 
And  he  held  out  his  arms,  saying :  Come,  then. 
And  as  she  put  her  face  close  to  his  own,  he 
caught  her  by  her  slender  throat,  with  both 
hands,  in  a  grip  like  that  of  death. 

And  then  lo!  she  was  gone  again.  But  in 
her  place,  he  held  in  his  grasp  a  huge  yellow 
snake,  which  struck  him,  as  he  clutched  it 
hard,  once  and  twice,  upon  the  Hps. 


A  Fatal  Kiss 


941 


A  Fatal  Kiss 

And  then,  little  by  little,  the  night  gradu- 
ally came  to  an  end.  And  the  sun  rose  up, 
out  of  his  home  in  the  eastern  mountain,  and 
began  rapidly  to  climb  into  the  sky. 

And  all  at  once,  there  arose  a  great  hubbub, 
and  an  outcry  in  the  King's  palace.  And  the 
women  ran  hither  and  thither,  wailing  and 
screaming  and  crying  out:  Haha!  haha!  the 
daughter  of  the  King  is  gone.  And  they 
hunted  in  all  directions,  but  could  not  find  her 
anywhere:  and  they  went  and  told  the  King. 
But  he,  when  he  heard  it,  came  running  just 
as  he  was  in  his  night  clothes,  and  hurried 
about  with  all  the  women,  looking  into  every 
corner,  and  finding  nothing.  So  after  turn- 
ing the  palace  upside  down,  he  stopped  short. 
And  he  said :  What  if  she  should  have  followed 

«43 


244  A  Fatal  Kiss 

her  lover  up  on  to  the  city  wall,  and  shared  his 
fate!  For  beyond  a  doubt,  like  all  his  pre- 
decessors, he  has  vanished  never  to  return. 

Then  they  all  went  up  the  winding  stair,  the 
King  going  first.  And  he  stepped  out  on  to 
the  wall.  And  instantly,  with  a  piercing  cry, 
he  fell  to  the  ground  in  a  mortal  swoon. 

Then  terror  seized  on  all  those  women,  and 
they  stood  exactly  where  they  were,  looking  at 
each  other  with  pale  faces,  not  daring  to  ad- 
vance. But  at  last,  after  a  long  while,  sup- 
porting each  the  other,  they  pushed  forward 
and  looked  out.  And  they  saw  the  King's 
body,  lying  on  that  of  his  daughter;  and  a  lit- 
tle further  off,  Aja,  lying  upon  his  face. 

Then  they  went  out,  and  took  up  those  three 
bodies,  and  carried  them  in,  and  examined 
them.  And  after  a  while,  they  said:  Doubt- 
less the  heart  of  the  old  King  broke,  when  he 
saw  his  daughter  lying  dead.  But  as  for  the 
other  two,  one  snake  has  evidently  bitten  both. 
And  yet,  this  is  a  wonderful  thing.  For  she 
has  been  bitten  on  the  foot,  but  her  lover  upon 
the  lips.     What  then?    Was  he  trying  to  kiss 


A  Fatal  Kiss  245 

the  snake,  that  it  should  bite  him  upon  the 
lips?  For  how  could  even  the  biggest  snake 
reach  up  so  high,  as  this  great  Rajpoot's 
mouth? 


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Books  by  F.  W.  Bain 


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POPPY 

The  Story  of  a  South  Jhfrican  Girl 
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With  Frontispiece.     $1.35  net  {$l.50  by  mail) 
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The   Master  Girl 

By  Ashton  Hilliers 

Author  of  '<  As  It  Happened,"  etc. 

A  vivid  story  of  prehistoric  times,  when  the 
wife-hunter  prowled  around  the  cave  of  the 
savage  woman  he  Intended  to  appropriate. 
Into  this  life  of  hard  necessity,  of  physical 
conflict,  of  constant  peril  and  unceasing  vigi- 
lance, is  introduced  a  love  affair  between  a 
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sents a  blending  of  tenderness  and  savagery 
typical  of  an  age  when  love  and  hate  were 
more  deeply  rooted  passions  than  they  are 
tO"day. 

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amazing  doings  has  only  one  fault.   It  is 

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